Behind the AI Boom: A Look at Data Center Investment

Data centers are home to millions of servers running 24/7 to process artificial intelligence (AI) applications. In a race for competitive advantage, the “hyperscalers” that provide cloud services, along with other companies aiming to profit from the AI boom, are investing in data centers at a furious pace. As of now, there isn’t enough computing power in the world — namely the hardware, processors, memory, storage, and energy needed to operate data centers — to fulfill AI demand.

If current demand trends continue, $5.2 trillion in global AI-driven capital expenditures (capex) would be required by 2030, according to calculations by McKinsey & Company. But future demand is highly uncertain, as is the prospective return on investment, or ROI, for big spenders. Under two other scenarios, projections for capital investment needed to support AI-related demand range from $3.7 trillion (if momentum is constrained) up to $7.8 trillion (if AI adoption accelerates).

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