Google & Microsoft Used More Power Than 100+ Nations: Study

AI is powering ahead, literally!

It’s no secret that the world of artificial intelligence (AI) and generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is growing at unprecedented rates.

In addition to drawing in a wide range of companies from other sectors, the industry is witnessing a phenomenal rise in energy usage and power consumption.

Big tech companies such as Google and Microsoft, which are looking to lead the AI race, have invested heavily in bolstering their infrastructure in order to power up this technology.

So much so, that their electricity consumption has hit an interesting high, according to a study.

So, what did the study say about the power consumption of these two AI leaders? Let’s explore!
 

What Was Revealed About The Power Consumption Of AI Companies?

 

• “Last year, Google and Microsoft data centers consumed more electricity than many countries did. Wild.”

• This was the caption for a post published on X by journalist Michael Thomas that revealed the electricity consumption of tech conglomerates Google and Microsoft.

• As per Thomas’ research, Google and Microsoft outshone the electricity consumption of over 100 countries, including Jordan, Iceland, Ghana, the Dominican Republic and Tunisia, while equaling the nation of Azerbaijan, a country housing 10.14 million people.

• On the other hand, countries such as Nigeria, Ireland, Serbia, Ecuador, Slovakia, Libya and others were just above Google and Microsoft.

• The two companies each consumed 24 TWh (Terawatt-hour) of electricity, which is equal to the output of one trillion watts for one hour.

• The surge in electricity consumption can be traced to an increase in AI development and the energy needs of data centers that enable this technology.

• Additionally, the global move to cloud environments have thrusted the requirement of additional infrastructure.

• Unfortunately, this also brings in an increase in greenhouse gas emissions, which for Google included a rise of 48% and Microsoft’s climb consisted amounted to a 30% hike since 2020.

• A study by Goldman Sachs revealed that each query answered on Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s ChatGPT requires as much as ten times the electricity that a Google Search query uses.

• Furthermore, the study mentions that the use and development of AI technologies is set to boost the data center power demand by 160%.

However, there is a brighter side for these two tech giants to look forward to.
 

What’s The Brighter Side?

 

• While the comparison of the higher electricity consumption as compared to numerous countries is mind blowing, Google and Microsoft do also generate more money than many countries.

• In 2023, Google posted a revenue of $305.6 billion while also adding $739 billion to the economy according to the company and employing over 100,000 people in the US alone.

• Microsoft revealed it drew in a revenue of $211.9 billion in 2023, in addition to being among the top 3 most valuable companies by market capitalization with a valuation surpassing $3 trillion and a constantly shifting list consisting of Apple and NVIDIA.

• To compare the revenues of the two tech bigwigs, in 2023 Azerbaijan's GDP was around $78 billion, Slovakia's GDP was near to $127 billion and Iceland's GDP was about $30 billion.

• Ahead of this, both companies are big in the clean energy movement.

• Google has been carbon neutral since 2007 and has a goal to operate all its data centers on 24/7 carbon-free energy by 2030.

• Furthermore, the company invests heavily in renewable and sustainable energy projects, spanning wind, solar and other sources.

• This also includes a recent partnership with BlackRock, which saw an investment in its Taiwan-based solar developer New Green Power.

• Microsoft comes in with a plan to be carbon negative by 2030, meaning it will remove more carbon from the environment than it emits.

• Additionally, by the same year, the company aims to achieve zero waste production and positive water usage. 

• Microsoft too has invested in various energy projects around the world.

Do you think artificial intelligence companies need to address this concern immediately? Do you think governments should make it mandatory for a certain share of the energy consumed by technology companies to come from sustainable or renewable energy sources?

Let us know in the comments below!