U.S. Leads The World in Data Center Electricity Use By Far

Giants in the U.S. tech sector have been consumed in a race to dominate the future of Artificial Intelligence. Between 2022 and 2025, capital expenditures on AI infrastructure by major American tech companies surged by more than 175%, from $162 billion to $448 billion. In the fourth quarter of 2025 alone, AI capex totaled $22.5 billion for Meta, $28.5 billion for Alphabet, $36.2 billion for Microsoft, and $40.5 billion for Amazon. Much of that money is being used to build the massive, energy intensive data centers that power AI technology. 

But the AI race is by no means confined to the Silicon Valley bubble. AI is a rapidly evolving technology, and while the full extent of its potential capabilities remains unknown, AI will likely have transformative implications. In addition to AI’s ongoing large-scale commercial integration, it is also already being used to augment new and existing weapons systems for militaries around the world. With meaningful and ever-growing economic and national security applications, AI may have the power to upend the world order as we know it. 

The high geopolitical stakes in the AI era are fueling something of a technological arms race, as global powers seek to establish and maintain an edge in AI and its multi-faceted real-world use cases. And according to the latest data from the Energy Institute, the United States appears well positioned to claim AI dominance –,at least for now.

Using data from the Energy Institute report, 2026 Statistical Review of World Energy, Climate Crisis 247 identified the global leaders in AI infrastructure. We ranked all countries and regions included in the report on total electricity used by data centers in the 2025 calendar year. For the purposes of this story, AI data center electricity use is a proxy for AI capability and integration into practical applications, including commercial and military enterprises. All supplemental data in this story is also from the Energy Institute.

According to the report, AI data centers in the U.S. used approximately 312.6 terawatt hours of electricity in 2025, about as much as 29 million average households. This is more electricity than all the data centers in many entire continents and 52% more electricity than all data centers in China, America’s leading AI rival. Notably, electricity generation may present a bottle neck for continued AI development in the United States, as in relative terms, data center driven-demand has rapidly outpaced electricity supply growth in recent years. 

7. North America (excluding U.S.)

• Total data center electricity use, 2025: 6.2 terawatt hours (0.8% of world total)
• Change in data center electricity use, 2020-2025: -53.0% (-7.0 terawatt hours)
• Change in total electricity production, 2020-2025: +4.0% (+40.8 terawatt hours)
• Data center power grid strain, 2025: 0.6% of electricity generation

6. South and Central America

• Total data center electricity use, 2025: 25.6 terawatt hours (3.3% of world total)
• Change in data center electricity use, 2020-2025: +67.3% (+10.3 terawatt hours)
• Change in total electricity production, 2020-2025: +16.1% (+212.1 terawatt hours)
• Data center power grid strain, 2025: 1.7% of electricity generation

5. Middle East and Africa

• Total data center electricity use, 2025: 29.9 terawatt hours (3.8% of world total)
• Change in data center electricity use, 2020-2025: +339.7% (+23.1 terawatt hours)
• Change in total electricity production, 2020-2025: +19.8% (+2,594.1 terawatt hours)
• Data center power grid strain, 2025: 1.2% of electricity generation

4. Asia Pacific (excluding China)

• Total data center electricity use, 2025: 63.2 terawatt hours (8.0% of world total)
• Change in data center electricity use, 2020-2025: +101.3% (+31.8 terawatt hours)
• Change in total electricity production, 2020-2025: +28.4% (+41.1 terawatt hours)
• Data center power grid strain, 2025: 34.1% of electricity generation

3. Europe

• Total data center electricity use, 2025: 144.6 terawatt hours (18.4% of world total)
• Change in data center electricity use, 2020-2025: +71.1% (+60.1 terawatt hours)
• Change in total electricity production, 2020-2025: +1.9% (+72.8 terawatt hours)
• Data center power grid strain, 2025: 3.7% of electricity generation

2. China

• Total data center electricity use, 2025: 205.7 terawatt hours (26.1% of world total)
• Change in data center electricity use, 2020-2025: +136.7% (+118.8 terawatt hours)
• Change in total electricity production, 2020-2025: +35.9% (+2,796.2 terawatt hours)
• Data center power grid strain, 2025: 1.9% of electricity generation

1. United States

• Total data center electricity use, 2025: 312.6 terawatt hours (39.7% of world total)
• Change in data center electricity use, 2020-2025: +80.9% (+139.8 terawatt hours)
• Change in total electricity production, 2020-2025: +11.3% (+484.6 terawatt hours)
• Data center power grid strain, 2025: 6.6% of electricity generation