Which silicon serves inference decides the energy-per-token curve, but total datacenter power still roughly doubles by 2030
inference workload
serving mix
which silicon serves?
GPU serving
B200 ~1,000W / part
ASIC serving
Sohu math blocks <1/2 voltage*
no independent tokens-per-watt
?
inference serving slice — energy per served token
?
2024
2030
high
low
Etched served-power path — verifiable datapoints
2 MW
San Jose office
10 MW
80k sq ft site
GW-scale
ambition 2027
total datacenter electricity (IEA, incl. training) — 2024 vs 2030
415 TWh
~945 TWh
~1.5% of world use
roughly 2.3x 2024
accelerated AI servers ~30%/yr — roughly half the net increase
rack density 10–15 kW to 50–150 kW; binding constraint shifts to grid lead times
node-level gains do not cancel aggregate growth
slice energy / token falls
aggregate power still ~doubles
ASIC share of inference serving
mix 55%
slice energy / token mid
Move toward ASIC-heavy serving: the slice's energy per token falls at the node level — the aggregate datacenter reservoir above the outcome does not shrink. The ASIC chip-level efficiency is an Etched claim (asterisk), not independently verified.