Natural Gas Fuels The AI Data Center Boom

Natural gas is expected to supply 60% of the power demand growth from AI and data centers.
June 25, 2024
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Amazon AI data center buildings
An Amazon data center under construction near homes in Stone Ridge, Virginia.

An explosion of hyper-scale data centers, which will provide the computing power needed for artificial intelligence (AI), is driving up demand for electricity and adding stress to the country’s aging power grid.

Data centers have become quite the discussion topic for U.S. energy companies during earning calls.

number of times data center mentioned on call transcripts

Interestingly, one U.S. energy company, Vistra Corp, even has a stock price chart that almost perfectly tracks Nvidia Corp. 

Vistra Corp stock price vs. Nvidia

Amazon, Google, and Microsoft own about 65% of global data center capacity, and they’re committed to powering their data centers with renewable energy.

However, gas is needed when renewable energy sources are not generating enough power.

According to a Goldman Sachs report published in April, natural gas is expected to supply 60% of the power demand growth from AI and data centers, while renewables will make up the remaining 40%.

AI is fueling natural gas demand as U.S. energy companies rush to meet electricity demands.

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