Chip Industry Sees Danger of AI in Explosion of Electricity Use

  • Data centers sucking power to keep up with information deluge
  • Applied Materials commits to cut carbon footprint 50% by 2030
Photographer: Akos Stiller/Bloomberg
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The increasing use of artificial intelligence is going to extract a heavy price in power unless the chip industry steps up and heads that off, according to one of the industry’s biggest companies.

Data centers are on course to consume 15% of the world’s electricity by 2025, according to Applied Materials Inc., the world’s largest maker of chip equipment. Those giant warehouses of computers currently suck in about 2%, the company said.