Big Tech has been on an energy hiring spree. Technology companies investing heavily in artificial intelligence are bolstering their workforce with energy experts as they look to overcome the biggest bottleneck in scaling AI: access to power. Energy-related hiring jumped 34% year-on-year in 2024, according to data compiled by Workforce.ai for CNBC. Last year’s hiring almost matched this pace and remained 30% higher than pre-AI levels of 2022, when ChatGPT was released late in the year. Energy is increasingly important to Big Tech companies whose AI ambitions hinge on securing power for insatiable data centers. Data centers accounted for around 1.5% of global electricity consumption in 2024 – representing a 12% year-on-year rise over the last five years, per the International Energy Agency. Demand is widely anticipated to increase further in line with the build-out of infrastructure.

Full report : US Big Tech companies have been on an energy-related hiring spree; Workforce.AI says Microsoft has hired 570+ people with energy-related expertise since 2022.