The Redmond giant has just announced the signing of a giant contract to source electricity from renewable sources. All this to fuel its development in AI.
Microsoft, in terms of generative AI, is Copilot, but also OpenAI tools like ChatGPT. A big name in artificial intelligence therefore, and mechanically, a player who will have enormous electricity needs, this technology having large energy needs, as Sam Altman had already pointed out. So, to be able to source properly, while respecting its objective of achieving carbon neutrality before 2030, the firm founded by Bill Gates has just signed an exceptional contract.
Microsoft signs a deal representing 10.5 gigawatts of renewable electricity
It’s an agreement that is already making history. Microsoft has just signed a contract with Brookfield Asset Management, which would, according to Bloomberg, the largest renewable energy purchase contract ever signed by a private actor. In fact, it is eight times higher than the previous largest contract in the field.
It must be said that with this deal, Microsoft aims to acquire electrical production capacities almost everywhere in the world representing a total power of 10.5 gigawatts. This is, for reference, the equivalent of half of California’s solar and wind electricity production capacity in 2022.
More than ten billion dollars will be invested
Suffice to say that we will have to pay a certain price if Microsoft wants to achieve this objective. According to Bloomberg, it is thus a sum oscillating between 11.5 and 17 billion dollars that it will be necessary to invest to build these energy installations. They should see the light of day between 2026 and 2030, in different places around the world (Europe, United States, Asia, Latin America).
Microsoft is thus preparing to face the energy problems that all companies that have embarked on the AI adventure will inevitably encounter. Indeed, electricity consumption in the sector will continue to increase in the years to come, to the point, according to the International Energy Agency, of reaching levels in 2026 10 times higher than those recorded in 2023. .
Source : The Verge
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