AI data centers drive us power demand surge, outpacing crypto mining

US technology companies are pursuing energy assets held by bitcoin miners as they race to secure a shrinking supply of electricity for their rapidly expanding artificial intelligence and cloud computing data centers.

Those data centers are driving the fastest US power demand growth since the start of the millennium, outpacing grid expansions and leaving giant technology companies, like Amazon (AMZN.O) and Microsoft (MSFT.O), to scavenge for vast amounts of electricity.

The...