What changed
2026-07-29 20:51 UTC → 2026-07-30 23:02 UTC ·
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Data centre expansion, policy, forecasts energy & impacts optical market
In July 2026 Washington state enacted a state’s 2026 one‑year freeze on new data‑centre projects (Council Bill 121214) and ordered an mandated impact study (Resolution 32204) to review grid, water, utility, land‑use and health effects. State‑wide data‑centre consumption still accounts for about 0.6 % of water use and 4.1 % of electricity (2025). The Asia‑Pacific market added roughly 1,557 MW of operating capacity in the second half of 2025, bringing the region to 13,763 MW and lowering vacancy to 10.9 %. China holds about 39 % of that capacity; India’s 285 MW addition moved it past Japan as the second‑largest market, while Malaysia’s Johor state recorded the fastest growth. Global forecasts show the optical‑switch market rising from $7.05 billion continue amid a global surge in 2025 to $20.6 billion by 2035 (≈11 % CAGR) and the data‑centre battery market climbing from $3.98 billion to $10.5 billion (≈10 % CAGR), driven by expanding AI workloads, high‑speed networking and the shift to lithium‑ion chemistries. Leading suppliers include Lumentum, Cisco, Huawei, Nokia, Broadcom, Schneider Electric, Vertiv, Eaton and ABB. BloombergNEF projects AI‑driven demand. U.S. installed data‑centre capacity is projected by Bloomberg NEF to reach 118 GW by 2030 and 194 GW by 2035, with a 101 GW pipeline added since late 2025. The U.S. Energy Information Administration warns electricity use potentially hitting could climb to 818 billion kWh by 2050 and 2050, lifting the sector’s share of commercial power rising from roughly 7 % today to up to as much as 33 %. In 2025, new New U.S. data‑centre projects added contributed about $60 billion to GDP (2.3 in 2025 (≈2.3 % of construction spending). India’s spending) and Gartner forecasts worldwide IT spending of $6.37 trillion in 2026, led by data‑centre systems and infrastructure‑as‑a‑service. In India, AI‑focused capacity is expected to quadruple to 6.5 GW by 2030, backed by an Brookfield’s $11 billion Brookfield‑Reliance‑Digital Realty joint venture with Reliance and requiring $350‑435 billion of Digital Realty, with cumulative investment and 150‑170 TWh of $350‑435 billion and annual electricity. electricity demand of 150‑170 TWh. Over 5,500 U.S. data centres, facilities, many powered by fossil‑fuel natural‑gas or coal plants, emit particulate matter linked to premature deaths and water‑quality impacts impacts. The optical‑interconnect market is also expanding. A new study predicts the Active Optical Cable market will grow from $4.80 billion in nearby communities. 2025 to $11.28 billion by 2033 (≈11.3 % CAGR), driven by high‑speed data‑centre and cloud deployments, AI workloads, 5G roll‑outs and the shift to 400‑800 Gbps Ethernet. Manufacturers are scaling production with automated fiber alignment and low‑power ICs, while advances in silicon photonics raise demand for high‑precision optical probing to support co‑packaged optics and photonic‑integrated circuits in next‑generation AI data centres.