Data Centers Require Significant Water Supply

May 20, 2024

The increasing demand for artificial intelligence (AI) is expected to strain resources, including water supply, as data centers require large amounts of water to operate. China’s data centers currently use over 1.3 billion cubic meters (343 billion gallons) of water annually, with projections suggesting this volume could exceed 3 billion cubic meters by 2030. The growth in AI demand is expected to lead to a significant increase in the number of data center racks, from approximately 4 million in 2020 to over 11 million by the end of the decade.