PwC projects global data center spending will reach $31.6 trillion through 2050, driven by rising demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure. Bloomberg and Quartz both cite PwC’s forecast as an exceptionally large investment cycle tied to expanding computing needs.
Both outlets say PwC expects annual data center capital expenditure to rise sharply, more than doubling from about $800 billion in the current period to about $1.8 trillion by 2050. Quartz adds that the growth is linked to recurring chip upgrades, suggesting continued refresh cycles for hardware powering AI workloads. Bloomberg frames the spending increase as an investment boom without historical precedent and focuses on the overall magnitude of the long-term outlay.
While the sources differ slightly in emphasis—Bloomberg on the scale and novelty of the boom, Quartz on the mechanism of recurring upgrades—they align on the central figures: $31.6 trillion in total spending through 2050 and a rapid rise in annual capital expenditure over the same period.
