Artificial Intelligence Growth Fuels Increase of Natural Gas Usage at Data Centers in 2025

By Shubhendra Anand , 28 May, 2025

The growth of artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing is progressing at an astonishing pace in 2025. Increasing data center's reliance on energy has led utility and energy companies to invest heavily in natural gas infrastructure. Even though the environmental effects of natural gas are highly contested, it is quickly becoming one of the more desirable energy sources because AI-based workloads are pushing the energy requirements of data centers to all-new heights.

According to the US Energy Department, the electricity used by data centers grew from 58 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2014 to 176 TWh in 2023. This number is expected to grow to a staggering 580 by 2028, making an estimated 12 percent of the country's power consumption. To satisfy the massive power requirement, natural gas consumption has spiked. It is estimated that an additional 6 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) will be needed by 2030 to sustain the growth of data centers.

Additionally, America's tech leaders like Microsoft, Meta and Amazon are pouring in billions to build new AI data centers, adding to the need for enhanced power infrastructure. To cover the new energy demand from Microsoft's USD 3.3 billion data center hub, Michael We Energies has planned the construction of a USD 2 billion natural gas-powered electricity generation facility. These projects aimed at improving the reliability of power supply to AI-powered computing infrastructures are emerging throughout the country.

        The graph shows US power demand from different states till 2035: