Huaxi Securities: AI Power Consumption Demand Continues to Rise, Agent Explosion Accelerates Demand

West China Securities points out that driven by the AI industry, computing power scale is rapidly increasing. Although currently China’s data centers’ electricity consumption accounts for a small proportion of total social electricity use and remains within the support capacity of the power system in the short term, the proportion of electricity used for computing is continuously rising, showing a rapid growth trend. On the policy level, green electricity is expected to increase its capacity to meet computing power demand. With the booming OpenClaw project, demand for AI Agents is expected to explode, and the surge in token numbers may further drive the demand for computing power, thereby increasing electricity demand.

Full Text:

【West China Computer】Computing and Electricity Collaboration Boosts AI Industry

This Week’s Viewpoint:

Enhanced Policy Positioning for Computing-Electricity Collaboration May Accelerate AI Infrastructure Development

On March 12, the Fourth Session of the 14th National People’s Congress approved the decision on the government work report. “Computing-Electricity Collaboration” was included in the Government Work Report for the first time in 2026, further elevating policy status. Computing and electricity collaboration is supported by new power systems, guided by high-quality development of computing infrastructure and the construction of a nationwide integrated computing network. It considers all factors and the entire lifecycle, deepening innovations in intelligent dispatching, source-grid-load-storage, new power supply and backup, green power aggregation, and supply mechanisms. This aims to optimize the overall system at the levels of industrial planning, production operations, resource dispatching, and market systems, enabling the two major productive forces—computing and electricity—to develop synergistically. The development of computing-electricity collaboration involves two key elements: the computing system and the power system. The main entities in the computing system include providers of computing resources and network operators; the power system mainly involves power generators, grid operators, and energy storage providers.

Demand Side: Continuous Increase in AI Electricity Usage, Agent Boom Accelerates Demand

Driven by the AI industry, the scale of computing power is growing rapidly. Although currently China’s data centers’ electricity consumption accounts for a small proportion of total social electricity use and remains within the capacity of the power system in the short term, the share of electricity used for computing continues to increase, showing a fast growth trend. On the policy front, green electricity is expected to expand its capacity to meet computing demand. With the booming OpenClaw project, demand for AI Agents is expected to surge, and the increase in token numbers may further boost computing power demand, leading to higher electricity consumption.

Supply Side: Domestic Green Power Faces Internal Consumption Challenges, Computing Construction Expected to Absorb

Despite the increasing proportion of renewable energy generation, the fundamental mechanisms of power dispatch and operation have not changed significantly. Grid regulation and safety margins are decreasing, making absorption issues more severe. The rapid growth of renewable capacity has led to localized absorption problems. As a flexible load factor, computing power is expected to enhance autonomous absorption of renewable energy. Additionally, policies like “East Data West Computing” support the transfer of industries westward, promoting “Western electricity for Western use.” With advances in smart grid technology and AI, solutions to grid connection issues are expected to form an industrial closed loop, strongly supporting the development of a technologically strong nation.

Investment Recommendations

Beneficiary Targets:

• Power: Jinkai New Energy, Yunnan Energy Holdings, GCL New Energy, Sifang Co., Fuling Power, Southern Power Grid Technology, State Grid South China, State Grid Information & Communication, Guodian Nanjing, Yuanguang Software

• Computing Power: UCloud, Qingyun Technology, Capital Online, Southern Power Grid Digital, DataPort, Aofei Data

Risk Tips: Systemic market risks, policies on technological innovation not being implemented as expected, sudden events in US-China relations.

(Source: Yicai)