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The layers, in the order a project usually meets them, are:
- Grid supply and connection: a reliable electricity source and a physical link to the grid.
- Transmission and substations: lines, switchyards, and transformers that carry power to the site and step it to usable voltages.
- In-facility distribution: switchgear, protective systems, cabling, and power distribution units (PDUs) that carry power through the building.
- Backup power: uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems and backup generation.
- Cooling and heat rejection: the equipment, water, and energy decisions that remove heat.
- Networking and storage: switches, routers, and data storage.
- Land, materials, permits, and operations: the site, mineral-dependent equipment, approvals, commissioning, and maintenance.
Geography matters from the start. The most specific policy source cited here is a U.S. executive order dated July 23, 2025. The electricity totals below are global figures from the International Energy Agency (IEA) unless noted otherwise. Power mix, water stress, grid availability, permitting timelines, and cooling design depend on region and facility scale, so none of these numbers describes a particular site.
Why electricity comes first
Electricity is the constraint most other layers depend on. The IEA’s 2026 report separates what it measured for 2025 from what it projects for 2030, and that distinction matters whenever you read a figure about AI power use. The table lists the headline numbers with their status.
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| Figure | What it covers | Source and date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17% growth | Global data-center electricity demand in 2025 | IEA, 2026 report | Reported change for 2025 |
| 50% growth | Electricity consumption from AI-focused data centers in 2025 | IEA, 2026 report | Reported change for 2025 |
| 485 TWh (2025) to 950 TWh (2030) | Central outlook for data-center electricity use | IEA, 2026 report | 2030 is a projection; 2025 is the starting value in the same outlook |
| 11 times | Increase in AI-server power density, 2020 to 2025 | IEA, 2026 report | Reported change for 2020 to 2025 |
| Fourfold further increase | AI-server power density by 2027 | IEA, 2026 report | Projection |
| 22% compound annual growth and 220 GW by 2030 | Data-center demand | McKinsey, 2025, citing its August 2025 research | McKinsey projection, not a measured result |
| $6.7 trillion | Cumulative global capital outlays through 2030 | McKinsey, 2025, citing its April 2025 research | Projection |
The density figure matters as much as the totals. When power per server rises that fast, more electricity has to reach each rack and more heat has to leave it. Distribution and cooling therefore become harder to size, even in a building with no more floor space.
From grid connection to usable rack power
A grid connection is a contract and a physical link, not a supply of usable rack power. The sources treat delivery as a chain of separate stages, and each stage can limit the others.
Grid supply and generation
A data center’s electricity strategy may combine grid power with contracted generation or on-site resources. The IEA’s 2025 analysis, “Energy supply for AI,” describes renewables as a major contributor to growth in electricity supply for data centers, while noting that fossil generation remains important in the near term and that grid-connection queues can shape outcomes. Its scenario work also shows regional differences, so U.S. and Chinese supply outlooks should not be read as one global energy mix.
Transmission, substations, and transformers
The most complete official list comes from the White House. Its order, Accelerating Federal Permitting of Data Center Infrastructure, issued by President Donald J. Trump on July 23, 2025, states: “These plans include artificial intelligence (AI) data centers and infrastructure that powers them, including high‑voltage transmission lines and other equipment.” The order’s component list names substations, transformers, switchgear, protective systems, and backup supply. These items sit upstream of the building, carrying power from the transmission network to the site and stepping it down to the voltages used inside.
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Inside the building, switchgear and protective systems control and isolate power, cabling carries it onward, and PDUs feed equipment in the racks. McKinsey’s 2025 analysis groups PDUs, cabling, and UPS systems with in-facility distribution and backup equipment, separate from grid and on-site generation. That boundary matters. A rack PDU sits at the late end of the chain and a grid transformer at the early end, so sizing or buying one does not settle the other.
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Backup supply and UPS
Backup systems cover the gap when grid supply or upstream equipment fails. The sources name UPS systems and backup supply as part of the facility’s required equipment. How much backup a facility needs depends on how much interruption its operator accepts, so backup design is a reliability decision rather than a single product choice.
Load swings, batteries, and on-site gas
AI workloads behave differently from conventional computing loads. The IEA reports that AI training and model use can cause larger and faster power swings than traditional data-center operation. That makes storage a possible reliability tool, and it pushes some operators toward on-site generation.
Batteries as a reliability tool
The IEA estimates that data-center battery storage could reach 20–25 GW of global deployment by 2030. This is a possible projection, not installed capacity today, and it does not describe any operator’s commitment.
On-site gas generation
The IEA describes on-site gas generation as an emerging response to grid constraints, and it identifies unresolved questions about design, regulation, finance, and supply. For a specific project, those questions decide whether on-site generation is a practical bridge. The sources do not settle that for any location.
Cooling and heat rejection
Every watt the IT equipment draws ends up as heat that must be removed. The World Economic Forum (WEF) states: “Data centres require electricity and cooling.” Cooling is therefore a core system, not an accessory to the chips. The sources do not establish a single cooling method as the right choice everywhere.
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Cooling is a site decision
Cooling choices interact with local water availability, electricity supply, and climate. A design that reduces one resource demand can increase another, so cooling should be evaluated alongside the power and site plan rather than purchased as a standalone item. McKinsey’s analysis takes the same view from the equipment side, treating power, cooling, and IT components as parts of one co-designed system.
Carbon, water, and land do not move together
The United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health, in its June 3, 2026 report Environmental Cost of Artificial Intelligence: Carbon, Water, and Land Footprints, finds that carbon, water, and land footprints vary and do not necessarily move together. Low-carbon electricity is not automatically low-water or low-land. A project that advertises a clean power supply still needs its water and land figures checked. The WEF’s May 12, 2026 report Building Resilient and Scalable AI Value Chains: A Nexus Strategy treats energy, water, minerals, and land as linked dependencies.
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Networking and storage
The White House order includes switches, routers, and data storage among covered components, alongside energy equipment. That treats them as physical infrastructure rather than as software layered on top. In practice, networking moves data among computing systems and between the facility and outside networks, and storage holds the data that training and serving depend on.
The sources cited here do not give standard bandwidth, network topology, or storage-to-compute ratios. Those depend on the architecture an operator builds, so any published ratio should be read as specific to that design.
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Permitting and the definition of a project
The July 23, 2025 order defines a “Data Center Project” as one that adds more than 100 MW of new load. That is a U.S. policy definition for federal permitting treatment. It is not a universal engineering threshold, and it does not indicate whether any particular project has been permitted. The IEA identifies permitting systems as a possible constraint on project delivery, and timelines vary by jurisdiction.
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Minerals and equipment supply chains
Chips, batteries, and electrical equipment depend on mineral supply chains. The WEF and UNU-INWEH present minerals alongside land, water, and energy as connected resource issues, so a constraint in one area is not isolated from the others.
Land and community acceptance
Transmission corridors and computing facilities both take up land. The IEA notes that community acceptance and permitting systems can constrain delivery. A technically feasible design can still stall over siting, resource use, or local opposition, which is why land belongs in the infrastructure picture and not only in the real estate one.
Commissioning and maintenance
McKinsey’s October 29, 2025 analysis states: “Power and cooling equipment are the backbones of data center infrastructure.” That is an institutional statement from the firm rather than an attributed individual quote. The analysis goes beyond equipment lists. It highlights repair and maintenance, startup, and commissioning of power and cooling systems, along with the need to design power, cooling, and IT together.
These services are easy to overlook in a component list, which is why they appear here as a separate layer. They determine whether a physically complete facility runs reliably once it is handed over.
Where projects stall
When a project slips, the symptom usually points to one layer. These checks follow from the sources:
- Power is contracted but energization keeps moving. Check the grid connection queue and equipment delivery timelines. The IEA identifies both as constraints on data-center growth.
- The grid connection is in place but racks lack usable power. Look at in-facility distribution (switchgear, cabling, PDUs) and the backup design.
- The site is feasible but approval is slow. Check permitting status and community acceptance.
- Water or cooling approvals are contested. Test the cooling design against local water availability and the site’s energy plan.
- The facility is built but output is unstable. Check startup, commissioning, and maintenance, and whether power, cooling, and IT were designed together.
How to compare sites
These axes apply when you are comparing actual options or locations. The evidence does not identify a universal winner across them, so rankings change from site to site.
| Axis | What to check | Why results vary |
|---|---|---|
| Time to energization | Grid connection queue and equipment delivery timelines | Local grid conditions and equipment supply differ by region |
| Reliability | Redundancy, UPS and backup, storage | AI load swings change how much backup and storage a site needs |
| Power source and economics | Grid mix, supply contracts, on-site generation | IEA regional supply outlooks differ, and contract terms are project-specific |
| Cooling performance and resource demand | Heat rejection method, water availability, energy requirements | Carbon, water, and land footprints do not move together |
| Site suitability | Land, transmission access, logistics, permitting, community impact | Permitting and community acceptance vary by jurisdiction |
| Supply chain and operating readiness | Equipment availability, commissioning, maintenance, specialist workforce | Availability is project-specific and is not established in the sources for any single location |
Reading AI infrastructure numbers with a money lens
For personal-finance readers, the main risk is treating a projection as a measured result, or a global total as a local fact. These checks help:
Quick Recap
- Identify the layer. Chip purchases, grid and transmission work, cooling equipment, and construction services are separate spending lines with different owners and timelines. A headline total combines all of them.
- Check geography and scope. A U.S. policy definition, a global energy total, and one project’s megawatts are not interchangeable.
- Ask who pays. The sources cited here do not establish how infrastructure costs are split among data-center operators, utilities, and electricity customers. Claims about household bills should wait for a specific regional rate case or contract.
- Do not map totals to companies. The cumulative capital projection above does not say how much any single company, equipment maker, or utility will earn from that spending.
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