U.S. Data Centers Could Become Gas Giants by 2035

The race to build artificial intelligence infrastructure is becoming an energy story as much as a computing story. TechCrunch AI, citing a new BloombergNEF forecast, reports that U.S. data centers could consume roughly 18 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day by 2035. That would be more than the combined consumption of Germany and Japan.

Key takeaways

• The forecast has risen sharply. The new estimate is nearly twice BloombergNEF’s projection from only nine months earlier, even after accounting for data center projects that may never be completed.
• Data centers could become a major source of gas demand growth. Over the next decade, they are expected to be the second-largest driver of U.S. natural gas demand growth after liquefied natural gas exports.
• Onsite generation is only part of the picture. Meta, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon have all announced plans involving natural gas plants that would supply power directly to data centers. Such facilities could consume between 2.9 billion and 3.4 billion cubic feet per day by 2035—roughly equivalent to the gas used by all U.S. data centers today.
• The grid-connected segment could matter more. BloombergNEF expects power-sector demand associated with grid-connected data centers to add about 15 billion cubic feet per day by the middle of the next decade. That would be roughly five times the growth expected from all other grid-connected sectors combined.

Why it matters

The forecast highlights a central constraint on AI expansion: data centers need not only accelerators, servers, and land, but also large amounts of dependable electricity at predictable prices. Much of the current buildout assumes that natural gas prices will remain relatively stable. That assumption could become harder to sustain if data centers expand at the same time as LNG exports. Higher gas prices could affect technology companies directly, while utility customers could absorb part of the increase through higher electricity rates.

The emissions implications are also substantial. The source cites an International Energy Agency estimate that each cubic foot of natural gas produces about 60 grams of carbon dioxide equivalent when extraction, processing, distribution, and combustion are included. BloombergNEF’s demand projection could therefore add significant pressure to U.S. climate targets. The original report estimates that the additional demand could produce about 1 million metric tons of greenhouse gas pollution per day, or around 12% of current U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

The broader lesson is that the AI infrastructure race is no longer just about who can secure the most computing capacity. It is also about who can obtain power that is reliable, affordable, and compatible with climate goals. For future data centers, location, generation strategy, and emissions accounting may become as important to commercial viability as chip supply.

TechCrunch AI