Powering AI: New Amazon Data Center Water Disclosure Implies High Electricity Use

Research evidence excerpt

Powering AI: New Amazon Data Center Water Disclosure Implies High Electricity Use

Barclays | Thematic Investing

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AMZN again improved its water use efficiency. AMZN reports that its global data center

operations withdrew ~2.5 billion gallons (~9.5bn liters) of water in 2025, with withdrawals at

sites it owns and operates declining ~2% YoY, despite continued expansion. The company also

disclosed a global WUE of 0.12 L/kWh in 2025, down from 0.15 L/kWh in 2024. AMZN attributes

these improvements to:

• Years of investment in custom cooling technology, smarter systems, and a commitment to

minimize water use wherever possible.

• Steadily raising the temperature thresholds at which its data centers operate, while designing

servers to tolerate more heat. Higher allowable server operating temperatures allows it to

maximize “free air cooling” for the majority of the year (~90%), while relying on water use for

evaporative cooling only during the hottest and most humid days.

AMZN also explicitly defended its use of water for evaporative cooling, rather than relying

more heavily on energy-intensive mechanical chillers (i.e., large air conditioning systems).

The company notes that, "with currently available technology, using water during hot hours

actually reduces overall environmental and community impact," since the chillers typically

require 25-35% more electricity, and that extra power demand often occurs when the grid is

constrained. This echoes the key points we outlined in Powering AI: Demystifying Data Center

Cooling & Water Use:

• Evaporative cooling—not liquid cooling—is the primary driver of direct (on-site) water