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  • 1.  AI and Data Centers (Goldman Sachs Insight)

    Posted 14-09-2025 23:02

    Latest insight from the Team @ $GS available through the link below:

    AI and Data Centers

    Includes brief overviews of:

    The rise in power demand from data centers
    What's in an AI data center?
    Chinese semiconductor investment to rise more than expected
    Construction of data centers likely to exceed office construction
    How much did US "hyperscale" tech companies invest in 2023?

    Data Center Demand


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    Todor Kostov
    Director
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  • 2.  RE: AI and Data Centers (Goldman Sachs Insight)

    Posted 07-10-2025 09:07

    Thanks Todor

    Another Bloomberg NEF article complementing the previous GS report:

    Power Demand Breakdown

    Key Insights:

    • Electricity demand from AI training and services is expected to quadruple by 2035, reaching about 1,600 TWh - roughly 4.4% of global power use.

    • If counted as a country, AI-focused data centers would rank fourth in electricity use, behind China, the US, and India.

    • The United States remains the largest market, with data-center demand in key hubs growing faster than that of electric vehicles, hydrogen, and other new technologies.

    • AI workloads are far more energy-intensive than traditional computing.

    • Data centers are scaling up: in 2010 most used under 5 MW; new sites now plan for hundreds of megawatts, with some approaching gigawatt scale.

    • Efficiency gains can't keep up: PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) is expected to improve from 1.4 to 1.2 by 2030, but the growth in computing power outweighs these savings.

    • Short-term: growth is largely met by natural-gas-fired power, which is abundant and flexible in major US markets.

    • Long-term: operators face pressure from policymakers, net-zero targets, and customers to expand using cleaner energy sources.



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    Carlos Salas
    Portfolio Manager & Freelance Investment Research Consultant
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  • 3.  RE: AI and Data Centers (Goldman Sachs Insight)

    Posted 07-10-2025 20:58

    Great info. Thanks Carlos. The focus going forward will be on ramping up energy capacity and compute. This on top of everything else.

    -Todor



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    Todor Kostov
    Director
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  • 4.  RE: AI and Data Centers (Goldman Sachs Insight)

    Posted 14-10-2025 09:47

    New article on this topic.

    Exec Summary:

    AI's energy intensity and data-center expansion are transforming electricity demand, with nuclear power emerging as a critical, premium-priced, low-carbon baseload option. Limited new nuclear capacity and persistent hyperscaler demand could sustain elevated contract premiums and drive multi-billion-dollar EBITDA growth for leading operators.

    Key Insights:

    • AI-driven power demand:
      Growth in artificial intelligence, particularly large language models (LLMs), could significantly increase U.S. electricity consumption by 11–26% by 2030, requiring 131–310 GW of new generation capacity to support an additional 345–815 TWh of demand.

    • Energy intensity:

      • Generative-AI queries consume up to 10× more energy than standard internet searches.

      • Nvidia Blackwell GPU: 1,200 watts vs. ~150 watts for a CPU.

      • Major investors include OpenAI, Amazon, Google, and Meta, each planning multi-billion-dollar IT infrastructure outlays.

    • AI Capex forecasts (BI Technology team):

      • Training scenario: Spending peaks in 2026 after a rapid 2023–26 phase.

      • Inference scenario: Capex grows through 2032, with accelerated growth from 2023–26 and slower gains thereafter.

    • Energy source trade-offs:

      • Nuclear: Highest capacity factor (90%) but most expensive ($12,500/kW).

      • Coal: 60%, $5,000/kW.

      • Gas (CCGT): 60%, $2,500/kW.

      • Wind: 35%, $1,500/kW.

      • Solar: 25%, $1,500/kW.

      • Renewables' intermittency requires storage or backup; fossil fuels face emissions constraints.

    • Nuclear premium pricing:

      • Data centers are paying $15–$25/MWh above market.

      • Example: Constellation Energy's $840 million 10-year VPPA with the U.S. General Services Administration covers 1 million MWh/year (~$80/MWh).

      • EBITDA uplift potential: Constellation +$1.8B/year, Vistra +$500M/year if half of nuclear capacity is contracted at midpoint premium.

    • Nuclear capacity ownership (MW):

      • Constellation 22,000, Vistra 6,500, PSEG 3,800, NextEra 2,300, Talen 2,200, Dominion 2,000.

    • Contract structures:

      • Shift from behind-the-meter (BTM) to front-of-the-meter (FTM) VPPAs, avoiding regulatory hurdles but adding ~$7/MWh in transmission costs.

      • BTM offers better load control, avoids interconnection delays, and may lower capex.

      • Example projects:

        • Microsoft–Constellation (835 MW), Crane restart in 2027.

        • Meta–Constellation (Clinton plant) post-subsidy in 2027.

        • Talen–AWS (Susquehanna) expanded from 960 MW → 1.9 GW, including 300 MW BTM.



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    Carlos Salas
    Portfolio Manager & Freelance Investment Research Consultant
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  • 5.  RE: AI and Data Centers (Goldman Sachs Insight)

    Posted 19-10-2025 21:28

    Great update Carlos.

    Below is a quick graph of even more optimistic CapEx forecasted expenditures from the Big 5 hyperscalers (source: GS, ZeroHedge).

    Hyperscaler CapEx



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    Todor Kostov
    Director
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  • 6.  RE: AI and Data Centers (Goldman Sachs Insight)

    Posted 24-11-2025 09:51

    AI power hunger drives record private equity deals, November 2025

    KEY TAKEAWAYS
    • The surging electricity demand from AI is leading to record private equity investments in utilities and renewable energy, with deals on track to exceed $150 billion.
    • Data center operators are moving towards clean energy due to net-zero commitments and new regulations.
    • The Bloomberg Clean Energy Index has returned 31% this year, while the Bloomberg 500 and the Bloomberg Magnificent indices have seen returns of 15% and 20% respectively.

    Original Article 



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    Carlos Salas
    Portfolio Manager & Freelance Investment Research Consultant
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  • 7.  RE: AI and Data Centers (Goldman Sachs Insight)

    Posted 22 hours ago

    Todor and Carlos you have a great discussion thread going hear.  I have a couple of maybe devils advocate questions to challenge the exponential projection of energy demand.  

    1. Supply bottlenecks i.e the ability to build out supporting infrastructure not just generating capacity or grid connection/balancing but also the ability of the telecoms network capacity to carry what might be an exploding flow of data.  I haven't seen much discussion of potential network bottlenecks.
    2. Does Moore's law and innovation disruption upset what seem at least superficially to be linear progressions.  If power:compute ratio dramatically reduces power for the same AI activity has this been factored in - i.e. cost power down per compute through chip innovation.
    3. Gen AI is focused on building the biggest AI sledge hammer this favours a small number of well funded majors but what are the risks that smarter hardware and software architectures collapse the physical material and power needs of AI. 
    4. I recall my first summer job between school and uni working in a University computer services department with huge rooms of compute and tape decks whirring 24/7 for a then state of the art computer that now likley has.les s capability of my slightly aging iPhone.

    Any thoughts if the current scenarios have wargamed some of these historic IT lessons.



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    David Manuel
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