This week the International Energy Agency (IEA) put a number on the table worth pausing over: by 2030, the data centres powering artificial intelligence will consume as much electricity as an entire country — Japan. Sustaining that growth will require close to two trillion dollars in investment before the decade is out.
At the same time, another report released this same week — Deloitte’s Smart Manufacturing and Operations Survey 2025 — shows that industrial plants already using AI, automation and data analytics are seeing production gains of 10% to 20% and productivity gains of up to 20%. The same technology driving up global electricity demand is the one making factories more efficient. That’s the paradox — and the opportunity.