Microsoft Pledged to Save Water. In the A.I. Era, It Expects Water Use to Soar.Driven by the artificial intelligence frenzy, Microsoft is intern...

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Microsoft Pledged to Save Water. In the A.I. Era, It Expects Water Use to Soar.
Driven by the artificial intelligence frenzy, Microsoft is internally projecting that water use at its data centers will more than double by 2030 from 2020, including in places that face shortages.
Now Microsoft is privately projecting its water use will surge.

By just how much is a moving target.

Internal forecasts that Microsoft made last year, which were obtained by The New York Times, show the company expected its annual water needs for roughly 100 data center complexes worldwide to more than triple this decade to 28 billion liters in 2030. That compares with 7.9 billion liters in 2020 and 10.4 billion liters in 2024.

After The Times contacted Microsoft, the company said it had updated its projections to reflect new water-saving techniques, including a new data center design and better information from facilities that it leases. It now expects to use about 18 billion liters of water in 2030, up 150 percent from 2020. The new forecast does not include more than $50 billion in data center deals that the company signed last year.
SOURCE:https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/technology/microsoft-water-ai-data-centers.html

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