The relentless expansion of artificial intelligence is creating a new kind of American factory, one that consumes staggering amounts of electricity. While the entertainment industry hasn’t yet felt the direct impact of potential power shortages, the infrastructure supporting the creation of AI – and the content it will inevitably generate – is rapidly evolving, and with it, the demands on energy resources.
Data centers, described as “giant white boxes” rising from the landscape, are the physical manifestation of this shift. These facilities, capable of using as much electricity as a city the size of Philadelphia, are becoming increasingly common across the United States. The surge in demand is directly linked to the explosion of AI applications, particularly since the launch of ChatGPT in . Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, recently observed that “a lot of the world gets covered in data centers over time,” a statement that feels less like prediction and more like inevitability.
Leading the charge in providing infrastructure for this AI boom is CoreWeave, a company that began as a somewhat accidental venture. Founded eight years ago, its origins lie in the world of cryptocurrency mining. A group of traders at a New York hedge fund discovered that graphics-processing units (GPUs) – originally designed for video gamers – could be repurposed as low-budget supercomputers using software from Nvidia. Brian Venturo, a co-founder of CoreWeave, explained the initial appeal: “If you make your money back in, like, five days, you want to do that a lot.”
The operation quickly scaled, moving from Venturo’s grandfather’s garage in New Jersey to a platform offering access to GPUs for outside customers. The cryptocurrency crash proved unexpectedly beneficial, allowing CoreWeave to acquire more microchips from struggling miners. The turning point, however, came with the emergence of Stable Diffusion, an image-generation AI. Venturo’s experimentation with the technology – feeding it descriptions and receiving detailed illustrations in return – highlighted the potential of the infrastructure they had built.
The implications for the entertainment industry are significant, though currently unfolding. AI is already being used in various capacities, from script analysis and storyboarding to visual effects and even music composition. As these tools become more sophisticated, the demand for processing power will only increase, further straining the electrical grid and driving the need for more data centers.
However, the energy demands aren’t being met solely by traditional power sources. A growing focus is on integrating renewable energy solutions, coupled with advanced energy storage. EdgeCloudLink (ECL), a data center startup, is piloting an off-grid system in Mountain View, California, that combines a Tesla Megapack, hydrogen fuel cells, and electrolysers. According to ECL founder and CEO Yuval Bachar, the key isn’t simply generating renewable power, but reliably delivering it. “Batteries are the control layer that let us do that and allow everything else to scale,” he stated.
Bachar, a veteran of tech giants like Microsoft, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Cisco, believes a shift in mindset is required. Rather than focusing solely on incremental efficiency gains, the industry needs to rethink power delivery. ECL’s approach emphasizes modularity and scalability, building “blocks that can be scaled out, not up.” This suggests a future where data centers aren’t monolithic structures, but distributed networks powered by a combination of renewable sources and sophisticated energy storage solutions.
The rise of AI-powered data centers also intersects with the evolving electric vehicle (EV) market. While a recent report indicates a decline in EV market share for two consecutive quarters, the long-term trend remains toward electrification. The demand for batteries, crucial for both EVs and energy storage for data centers, is likely to intensify. This creates a potential synergy, where advancements in battery technology benefit both industries.
The renewable energy sector itself is anticipating continued growth. Deloitte’s industry outlook suggests a positive trajectory, though specific details remain limited. The convergence of AI, data centers, renewable energy, and battery technology presents both opportunities and challenges. The ability to reliably power the next generation of AI will depend on innovative solutions like those being pioneered by companies like ECL, and a broader commitment to sustainable energy practices.
For the entertainment industry, this means preparing for a future where content creation is increasingly reliant on a complex and energy-intensive infrastructure. While the immediate impact may be subtle, the long-term implications – from production costs to environmental sustainability – are substantial. The race to power the AI revolution is on, and the entertainment world will be a significant beneficiary, and consumer, of its outcome.
