The $750 billion buildout: How AI is reshaping energy infrastructure

The rapid expansion of data centers is emerging as one of the most powerful forces reshaping global energy demand, with investment levels now rivaling upstream oil and gas.

Data centers represent the largest structural demand shift in energy markets since industrialization, fueled by the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI). The pace of data center construction has already undergone a stepchange: between 2023 and 2025, global installed data center capacity grew 50% to 141 gigawatts (GW), equivalent to an addition of all capacity built before 2020. Annual global data-center investment has surpassed $750 billion, close to the peak upstream oil and gas investment of 2014, and will unlock hundreds of billions more for energy market participants. Data centers are already reshaping power markets, supply chains, gas flows, transmission planning, and capital allocation across the energy sector, representing a generational shift in energy infrastructure investment.