(Sept 23): There’s little prospect of data centres proliferating in emerging markets, where the notion of sharing precious energy resources with artificial intelligence (AI) would be out of place, according to World Bank Group president Ajay Banga.

“Emerging markets don’t have a lot of those data centres, and it’s not coming, trust me,” Banga said during a Bloomberg Green panel at climate week in New York. “You need computing power. Lots of it. You need electricity. Lots of it. More than what the developed world also has in some cases, let alone these developing countries.”

The comments feed into an ongoing debate around the role of AI data centres as their consumption of energy, water and land triggers backlash. In April, the International Energy Agency said that taking into account an expected doubling of electricity consumption by the end of the decade, data centres will account for 3% of global demand by 2030. 

“You need data, lots of it flowing freely, and you need people who understand how to use this,” Banga added. “In addition to the capital that you will require to put these in. There are very few emerging markets with that.”

Uploaded by Tham Yek Lee