
Jinze 金泽|Sep 07, 2025 15:38
Everyone's talking about AI's electricity consumption, but AI's water usage might be a huge issue the market hasn't noticed yet. Just read a Morgan Stanley report discussing this.
Some shocking stats:
11x growth: By 2028, annual water consumption by AI data centers is expected to hit 1.068 trillion liters—11 times that of 2024.
"Invisible" consumption: It's not just the water used for server cooling (Scope 1). The bigger chunk comes from the water needed to generate electricity (Scope 2), and chip manufacturing (Scope 3) is also a major water guzzler.
Supply shortages: The most critical part? Over half of the world's major data centers are located in areas with "moderate water scarcity risk." AI's water consumption is "small in absolute terms but growing fast, with significant regional supply chain risks."
Water is becoming as critical a bottleneck for AI infrastructure as electricity.
Seems like Bitcoin mining has water issues too. A 2023 study estimated that crypto mining consumes 1.859 billion tons of water annually (equivalent to the yearly water usage of 150 million people if calculated at 1 ton/person/month). By 2030, this is expected to grow sixfold.
Share To
Timeline
HotFlash
APP
X
Telegram
CopyLink