New Delhi [India]Morgan Stanley's report, September 8 (ANI): Artificial Intelligence (AI) data centers are expected to significantly increase global water consumption in the coming years.
The report said annual water use by AI data centres for cooling and power generation could reach around 106.8 billion litres by 2028.
“AI Data Centers will drive annual water consumption for cooling and power generation to approximately 106.8 billion litres by 2028 (basic case) – an 11-fold increase from 2024 estimates,” he said.
The report stated that water use in cooling data centres is widely accepted, but indirect water use from electricity generation remains under ratings. The wider water footprint of AI also includes semiconductor manufacturing.
Facilities involved in semiconductor production can consume as many as 5 million gallons of UltraPia water every day, emphasizing that they are intensively dependent on the process for water.
According to the report, estimates of water consumption depend on several factors, including water intensity, consumption factors, cooling techniques, and assumptions regarding local energy mix.
These numbers can change as operations adopt more efficient solutions. To reflect this uncertainty, the report presented three possible scenarios: Under these, AI water use could change between 637 billion liters per year and 148.5 billion liters per year by 2028.
The AI's water footprint spans three scopes. Scope 1 is related to onsite data center cooling, generation from scope 2, and semiconductor manufacturing in range 3.
Generation (range 2) usually accounts for the largest share of water use, followed by cooling (scope 1) and semiconductor production (scope 3).
While AI's overall global water consumption may seem modest, the report highlighted the highly localized impact of its effects.
More than half of the major global data center hubs are located in regions that are already facing moderate risks associated with water shortages, drought, floods and poor water quality.
Similarly, many secondary markets and emerging data center hubs are located in areas with high or very high water stress.
The report highlighted that water consumption is a rapidly evolving problem for the AI sector.
“More than half of the world's top data center hubs are in regions that are already facing moderate basin physical risks (i.e. moderate levels of vulnerability) to threats from drought, flooding and water quality,” he said.
With increasing demand for cooling and power generation, efficient management of water resources remains important to industry growth and sustainability. (ani)
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