Will energy replace currency? Zerodha's Nikhil Kamath thinks so

India Today

2 days ago

Could electricity become more valuable than money? Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath seems to think so. In a recent post, he said that in the next 10 years, energy and electrons might replace traditional currencies like the rupee or dollar.He wrote on X, "10 years from now, energy and electrons might be the currency of trade." His prediction is based on the rapid rise of data centres and artificial intelligence (AI), both of which need massive amounts of power to function.
advertisementHis prediction is based on the rapid rise of data centres and artificial intelligence (AI), both of which need massive amounts of power to function.WHY DATA CENTRES MATTER
Data centres are giant buildings filled with servers that store and manage all the digital content we use daily—be it YouTube videos, online payments, or even AI tools like ChatGPT. These centres work 24/7 and use huge amounts of electricity, mainly for computing and cooling the machines.Currently, electricity accounts for 65% of a data centre's operating costs. Remarkably, a single new data centre can consume more power annually than 400,000 electric vehicles. Globally, data centres now use 1.5% of all energy, a number that could surge to 10% by 2030.In the U.S., energy consumption by data centres stood at 4.4% in 2023 and is predicted to rise to 12% by 2028. The economic stakes of these developments are enormous, with generative AI potentially adding $400 billion to India's GDP by the end of the decade.advertisementKamath envisions a future where energy and electrons could emerge as the new form of global currency. This shift is expected to be driven by the rapid growth of data centres and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. India's generative AI market is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 28% through 2030, significantly boosting the data centre industry.Companies such as Netmagic, STTelemedia, Nxtra, CtrlS, Sify, and Yotta are at the forefront of this transformation, driving the expansion of data infrastructure across the nation.GLOBAL AND REGIONAL OUTLOOKThe US leads globally with 3,680 data centres, followed by Germany, the UK, and China.India's position is unique; despite hosting just 264 data centres, accounting for only 3% of global data centre power, it manages 20% of the world's data. These data centres are largely concentrated in cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Noida, Bengaluru, Pune, and Hyderabad.CHALLENGES AND POLICY SUPPORTDespite robust policy support from initiatives like the India AI Mission and 100% FDI allowance, balancing the rapid growth of data and AI with environmental sustainability remains a challenge.Presently, only 27% of data centre energy in India is clean, while the global target is to achieve 50% clean energy by 2030. This environmental aspect is critical as generative AI and data centre demands continue to rise, posing questions about sustainable growth. The role of AI is especially important; for instance, a ChatGPT query consumes ten times the energy of a standard Google search, highlighting the substantial energy demands of modern AI technologies.