The Zhitong Finance App learned that AI is becoming an industry capable of changing the global energy demand pattern. Goldman Sachs expects global data center electricity demand to grow 170% from 2025 to 2030, with more than 60% of the new demand coming from the US. Morgan Stanley predicts that by 2028, the electricity demand for US data centers will reach 97 GW, with a potential power supply gap of about 70 GW.
Goldman Sachs pointed out that taking the US as an example, there are currently about 2,600 gigawatts of power generation and energy storage projects waiting to be connected to the grid, which is more than double the current installed capacity of power generation. However, from the submission of the application for the project to the actual commercial operation, the median waiting time is about 5 years, and in some major markets, it even takes 8 to 12 years.
Goldman Sachs said that from 2026 to 2031, the cumulative capital expenditure on global computing power, data centers and power infrastructure will reach about 7.6 trillion US dollars. In 2026 alone, the relevant annual investment will reach $765 billion and will continue to grow thereafter. By 2030, the scale of new electricity consumption brought about by AI is roughly equivalent to Japan's annual electricity consumption.
According to reports, with the surge in demand for electricity in AI data centers, the supply of key power equipment such as gas turbines is in short supply, and the delivery cycle for new equipment continues to be extended. Utilities, developers, and other companies that power American AI data centers are searching around the world for used gas turbines, restarting equipment that has been out of service for a long time, and even converting decommissioned aero engines to power generation equipment.
Jefferies predicts that demand for gas turbines in US data centers alone will be close to 17 gigawatts this year, and may more than triple by 2028. At that time, global demand for gas turbines is expected to reach 129 gigawatts, but manufacturing capacity is expected to reach only about 87 gigawatts.
The US midterm elections prompted the market to re-evaluate the expansion prospects of AI computing power infrastructure and data center power chains. Dama analysts pointed out that progress on some US data center projects is blocked, which may push the demand for about 15 GW of computing power originally planned to be implemented in the US to Asia ahead of schedule, increase the utilization rate of local data centers, and further highlight the scarce value of reliable power supplies, power grid access, and energy storage facilities. Asian power equipment and power supply solutions suppliers are expected to usher in a new round of investment opportunities.
According to the Dama analyst team, Asia's list of potential beneficiaries of North American AI data center demand spillover includes: Thai power giant Gulf Development, Singaporean infrastructure and asset management giant Keppel, India's private thermal power faucet Adani Power, Chinese hydropower leader Changjiang Electric, South Korean battery and energy storage giant Samsung SDI, and Japan's regional power leader Hokkaido Electric Power.
In terms of Hong Kong stocks, in the first three quarters of 2026, Weichai Power achieved operating income of 181,171 billion yuan, up 6.21% year on year; net profit to mother of 10.659 billion yuan, up 20.06% year on year; after deducting non-net profit of 9.339 billion yuan, up 17.1% year on year. All three figures reached record highs. Weichai Power's management said that the increase in performance was mainly due to the increase in the share of high-value-added products such as large bore power generation engines and data center power generation products.
With the technology accumulation and delivery advantages of large bore engines, Weichai Power quickly entered the data center power circuit. In the first three quarters, sales of M-series large bore engines exceeded 11,000 units, an increase of more than 40% over the previous year, and the scale surpassed the whole of 2025; among them, sales of diesel power generation products in data centers exceeded 2,700 units, an increase of nearly 200% over the previous year. Meanwhile, in 2025, the company's M-series sales volume broke 10,000 units for the first time, revenue increased 65%, and data center backup power sales increased 259%. The high growth trend continued in 2026.
CITIC Construction Investment pointed out that global gas engine orders have maintained a boom, and the scale of gas power generation under construction in the US and the share of AIDC-related projects have increased simultaneously. Domestic combustion engines are expected to gain overseas market share faster with shorter delivery cycles, higher cost performance, and continuously enhanced product competitiveness. Firmly optimistic about domestic combustion engines going overseas.
Related concept stocks:
Dongfang Electric (01072): Domestic F-class heavy combustion engines rank high. The G50 50MW combustion engine has been localized to enable Kazakhstan to export complete engines overseas; it has extensive engineering performance in large-scale domestic power plants and gas storage peak control projects, and also lays out smaller power grade autonomous combustion engine products such as G15.
Shanghai Electric (02727): In-depth technical cooperation with overseas companies, with F/H class heavy fuel engine manufacturing capacity; 300MW class F prototype completed assembly, hydrogen blended combustion technology continued to be iterated, and equipment was provided for new domestic power system peak shifting scenarios.
Weichai Power (02338): Goldman Sachs believes that Weichai has switched from a traditional heavy truck engine leader to an AI data center power generation business. The company's strategic businesses such as electric energy and new energy power continued to expand: sales of M-series large bore engines exceeded 11,000 units in the first three quarters, up more than 40% year on year, sales of diesel power generation products in data centers exceeded 2,700 units, close to 200% year on year, power battery sales were 9.3 GWh, up more than 140% year on year, and profit quality and business structure were optimized simultaneously.