China AI data centre power demand quadruple

Wood Mackenzie released a report titled 'Rewiring China's Grid for the AI Era' projecting that China's data centre electricity consumption will quadruple to 774 TWh by 2030, driven by rapid growth in AI workloads. The report forecasts data centres will account for 6% of China's total electricity consumption by 2030, rising to 17% by 2060. It highlights a shift toward a 'compute follows power' model, where renewable-rich western regions attract power-intensive AI training and batch processing, while eastern hubs retain latency-sensitive applications. Wood Mackenzie expects eight national hubs to remain dominant through 2060, with data centres playing a more active role in the power system through battery storage and intelligent workload scheduling. Data-centre demand for green electricity is expected to rise substantially, with carbon emissions peaking by 2035. The report notes challenges including data security, service-level concerns, and high capital costs.