As the tech sector expands, in line with the growing global demand for advanced technologies, it appears that many companies may be poaching workers from the energy sector. Hiring skilled employees from the energy industry could help tech companies to advance their ambitions for developing giant new data centres to power artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies, without the need for retraining costs.
Tech companies worldwide are investing heavily in the development and expansion of the data centres that they require to deploy advanced technologies. With AI being incorporated into countless search engines, websites, and applications, tech companies cannot develop their new data centres fast enough. This has led several companies to invest in major new projects, as well as establish deals with energy firms to provide power for these centres.
Almost 100 GW of new data centres are expected to be added from 2026 to 2030, doubling the global capacity. The world’s data centre sector will likely expand at a 14 percent CAGR through 2030. By the end of the decade, AI could represent half of all workloads, compared to around a quarter of data centre workloads in 2025. This will have a meaningful impact on the power sector, with some countries feeling the strain more than others.
Data centres contributed around 1.5 percent of global electricity consumption in 2024, marking a 12 percent year-on-year increase over the last five years. The global electricity demand from data centres is expected to almost double by 2030. In the United States, rapid sectoral expansion means that data centres were expected to require 22 percent more power by the end of 2025 than just one year earlier. This figure is forecast to increase threefold by 2030. The development and expansion of data centres is expected to require around $3 trillion in investment by 2030.
Tech companies are increasingly looking to the energy industry to support sectoral expansion, using the skills and expertise of those working in the power sector to develop their projects. Several firms are investing in workforce expansion to prepare for the accelerated rollout of AI and other technologies.
One of the main restrictions to scaling AI so far has been gaining sufficient access to power. According to a recent report, energy-related hiring by the tech sector increased by 34 percent year on year in 2024, and a similar figure was seen in 2025. Tech companies are turning to energy experts to help them overcome the power supply hurdle by developing their in-house energy supplies. Some larger tech firms have absorbed whole energy companies to achieve this. When it comes to the acquisition of energy firms, Google’s parent company, Alphabet, plans to acquire data centre company Intersect, at a projected cost of $4.75 billion.
Several of the big tech names, such as Microsoft, Google, and Amazon, have led the trend to date. Operational roles in energy procurement, markets, grid interface and strategy have increased, according to recruiters. Meanwhile, reports suggest that Microsoft has employed 570 energy workers since 2022. Microsoft took on General Electric’s former CFO, Carolina Dybeck Happe, in 2024 as the firm’s COO. Amazon is thought to have employed 605 energy sector workers, putting it ahead of other tech firms. In addition, Google has hired around 340 people from the energy sector.
New employees come from a diverse range of energy backgrounds, from oil and gas to academia. However, many individual employees poached from the energy sector have been given temporary contracts. This is likely because they are expected to be required for the infrastructure development and the setting up of large-scale data centres, but they may not be needed after this has been achieved.
The CEO of The Green Recruitment Company, Daniel Smart, suggested that, as most tech firms have never built an energy project before, they prefer to outsource. “They’ll outsource the construction of it, and possibly even outsource the running of it and just buy the energy,” said Smart. In “phase two”, tech firms will attempt to improve the energy efficiency of data centres, which could support the creation of some permanent roles, according to Smart.
Meanwhile, utilities may find it increasingly difficult to hire the talent required to support grid expansion, as tech companies have the funds required to provide more attractive offers to energy workers. This could exacerbate the anticipated power supply and demand gap of the coming years and lead to the need to invest heavily in training programmes for the next generation of employees.
The rapid expansion of the tech sector’s data centres is driving many companies to hire talent from the energy sector to support development. With little skills in this field, tech firms are looking to energy experts to understand how to effectively develop this business and improve efficiency. This could make it increasingly more difficult for utilities and energy companies to retain talent, which could have a negative knock-on effect on grid expansion.
By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com