On June 9, on the sidelines of the @AtlanticCouncil Global Energy Forum, we organized a roundtable "Regional Energy Dialogues: In the Lead-Up to the G20 Summit" on transatlantic energy cooperation and US-Türkiye engagement in shaping the future of both regional energy security and advancing global energy priorities.

On data centers: The IEA notes that one of the most effective strategies for avoiding grid constraints is to site new facilities in areas with adequate generation and transmission capacity, which increasingly points toward those emerging markets where such capacity exists.

Emerging markets are not simply overflow locations. Rapid economic development and accelerating digitalization mean they are becoming demand centers in their own right. Expanding ecommerce, financial technology (fintech), and streaming industries, together with the localization of cloud services, are generating new domestic requirements for computing power.

Philipp Cornell details why emerging markets could lead data center growth in the latest @AtlanticCouncil report, which was launched in London on May 5.

AI is driving one of the fastest-growing surges in energy demand in modern history. The IEA projects global data center electricity use to more than double to 945 TWh by 2030—and the infrastructure race is no longer confined to the US, China, or Europe. A new @AtlanticCouncil report by Phillip Cornell examines what this means for emerging markets.🧵

But the opportunity comes with real risks. Firms in low- and middle-income countries face an average of 10-15 electrical outages per month, versus fewer than one in high-income economies. Permitting in frontier markets can take 18-36 months. And price volatility in some ASEAN markets has swung as much as 40% year-to-year. The report lays out how hybrid microgrids, modular construction, and smarter policy frameworks can turn these challenges into competitive advantages.