AI Boom and Sustainability Pressures Are Reshaping Data Centres
Data centres are scaling at record-breaking speeds. But along comes the urgent mandate of balancing growth with environmental responsibility.
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[Image source: Chetan Jha/MITSMR Middle East]
In the Middle East and around the globe, digital infrastructure is rapidly evolving to support a new era of AI-driven transformation. But as data centres expand to meet surging demand, operators face a dual challenge: scaling capacity while staying within sustainability boundaries. For governments and enterprises across the region, particularly in GCC countries investing heavily in digital economies, this balancing act is becoming increasingly strategic.
According to a new report by data and analytics firm GlobalData, the surge in AI workloads is transforming the data centre landscape—accelerating investment, expanding infrastructure, and intensifying the need for sustainable solutions.
The Data Centres part of GlobalData’s Strategic Intelligence series, outlines how AI development is now heavily reliant on large-scale data centre facilities, where high-performance computing infrastructure is essential for training complex models.
“Most AI training takes place in large-scale data centres,” the report notes, highlighting the growing role of these sites as the digital engines behind innovation. “AI models require high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure, specialised chips, large memory, and advanced cooling systems, making modern data centres essential to power AI development.”
In parallel, organisations increasingly depend on data centres to maintain core business operations, from storing valuable enterprise data to delivering mission-critical online services—leading many to view them as fundamental utilities of the digital economy.
Investment has surged to match this critical role. The four largest technology companies: Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta reported a combined capital expenditure of $245 billion in 2024. Projections suggest this figure could surpass $360 billion in 2025, with AI-related infrastructure as the primary driver.
“They are competing to build large data centres and fill them with specialised chips to stay ahead in the race for AI dominance,” says Martina Raveni, Analyst in the Strategic Intelligence team at GlobalData.
However, as data centre capacity scales up, so do the sustainability challenges. The International Energy Agency projects that data centre electricity consumption will more than double from 415 TWh in 2024 to around 945TWh by 2030, an uptick largely driven by energy-intensive AI workloads.
Cooling systems and water use remain significant concerns. The energy required for thermal regulation and air conditioning adds further pressure to operators already navigating tightening environmental regulations and shifting investor expectations.
“Tech giants and data centre operators are increasingly shifting to low-carbon energy solutions to meet growing power demands within their data centres,” Raveni notes. “Companies that develop and deploy innovative cooling technologies, particularly liquid cooling, will likely see increased demand.”
As AI reshapes the global digital infrastructure, the path forward will require more than scale and will demand sustainable innovation embedded at the core of data centre design and operation.
