PricewaterhouseCoopers: Global data centre expenditures are projected to reach $31.6 trillion by 2050

On 2 September, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers, meeting the growing global demand for artificial intelligence, the global data centre is expected to spend $31.6 trillion by 2050, which will be an unprecedented investment boom in human history. In a report on Wednesday, PricewaterhouseCoopers stated that if artificial intelligence were to spread faster than its “core scenario” projections, data centre expenditures could even reach $50 trillion over the next 25 years, which would go far beyond historic major construction projects such as railways, the Internet and electrification. By comparison, the gross domestic product of the United States is currently about $30 trillion. As consumers, businesses and Governments increasingly use artificial intelligence, technological giants such as Microsoft, Amazon and smaller data centre operators are building new computing facilities around the globe at a very rapid pace. At the same time, efforts are being made by the scientific and technological industry to contain the rising voices of opposition surrounding the construction of the data centre, which may slow down the expansion of the data centre. Data from the research institute Data Center Watch show that in the first three months of the year at least 75 data centre projects with a total value of approximately $130 billion were stopped or postponed because of opposition from the local population。