McKinsey April 2025 cumulative investment forecast through 2030: $6.7T total, comprising $5.2T AI-capable and $1.5T traditional data centers
~$6.7Tforecast
| Value kind | forecast — Forecasts are time-bound outlooks, not specifications; test decisions across plausible scenarios. |
|---|---|
| Scope | Cumulative forecast covering power generation and transmission, facility infrastructure and IT equipment; distinct from Dell'Oro's annual Data Center IT Capex taxonomy |
| Caveat | McKinsey restated the approximately $7T outlook on 2026-03-27, linking to the April 2025 analysis. |
| As of | 2025-04 |
| Source | McKinsey, 'The cost of compute' · Opening investment estimate and AI demand scenarios: $6.7T combined total; $3.7T/$5.2T/$7.9T are AI-only scenarios |
| Review | checking…review by 2026-12-01 · fast cadence |
| Recorded changes | last 2026-10-05 · 5 revisions tracked |
| Claim id | global-data-center-capex-required-by-2030-5-2t |
Where the guide uses it
- 0.1 Orientation: The AI Data Center as a Single Co-Designed Machine
- D Numbers Provenance & Forecast Register
← Full numbers register — every date-stamped figure in the guide, with revision history.