Musk’s Data Center Power Math: “Would Double U.S. Electrical Energy Output Per Year”
Whether you read institutional commentary from the desks at Goldman, UBS, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, or others, all indications are that the growing power demand from AI chips in server racks has rendered air cooling obsolete, with liquid cooling now the premier choice. But the broader concern is that soaring power loads from data centers are straining already fragile grids, tightening supply, driving up electricity prices, and raising the risk of blackouts.
With nuclear power restarts and new buildouts years away. We pointed out on Thursday night, “Each 1GW of AI computing capacity costs $50bn to deploy in today’s prices, according to OpenAI execs. By 2028, Morgan Stanley projects at least 65 GW of new data center demand. Do the math…”
We were referring to our previous X post about power blackout risks due to the surging new power demand from AI data centers and those that will be brought online in the near-term, colliding with a fragile grid with limited spare capacity.
Each 1GW of AI computing capacity costs $50bn to deploy in today’s prices, according to OpenAI execs. By 2028, Morgan Stanley projects at least 65 GW of new data center demand.
Do the math https://t.co/EMMQtMc4up
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) October 10, 2025
“There is no way the current US grid can support this,” we mentioned on X, commenting on our report for ZeroHedge Pro Subs, titled “Behind The $500 Billion Data Center Boom: Here’s Who Makes All The Key Components.”
Last night, Elon Musk commented on our data center power X post, explaining how large-scale industrial batteries, such as the one Tesla offers, can be a winning solution to stabilize the grid.
“Batteries. US grid is capable of 1TW steady state, but average usage is ~0.5TW. Run the power plants at night to charge up the packs and then discharge packs during the day to power AI,” Musk said, adding, “That would double US electrical energy output per year.”
That would double US electrical energy output per year
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 10, 2025
With nuclear power still years away, and with Goldman already warning of “price spikes and power blackouts“, the federal government or power grid operators must figure out a cost-effective, scalable energy solution to ensure power prices don’t continue spiraling out of control and proper grid stabilization occurs to ensure grid stability amid the AI arms race with China. Also, Goldman labeled the “vulnerable link” at the center of energy security as power grids.
At the rate AI is pushing up electricity prices, Tesla Energy will be more valuable than the car company
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) August 21, 2025
We cited Morgan Stanley’s Adam Jonas in June of 2024…
And batteries it is?
Tyler Durden
Fri, 10/10/2025 – 15:20