AI Data Center E-Waste Could Reach 617 Million Tons by 2050

Summary

A new report from the nonprofit Basel Action Network (BAN) warns that electronic waste from the AI buildout may be far larger than earlier estimates suggested. It projects that AI-related equipment retired between 2025 and 2050 could generate 395 million to 617 million metric tons of e-waste, or roughly 8.6 million to 13.1 million metric tons annually. By 2050, the waste could fill as many as 23 million 40-foot shipping containers. BAN’s estimate covers more than servers and GPUs: it also includes power supply and distribution systems, cooling equipment, backup power, networking hardware, telecommunications infrastructure, and personal devices that may be replaced sooner as AI advances. The organization estimates 70,000 metric tons of e-waste per gigawatt of data-center capacity and cites a projection that global capacity could reach 219GW by 2030. BAN says previous studies missed about 87 percent of a data center’s electromechanical infrastructure by focusing mainly on servers and accelerators. It also estimates global e-waste could reach up to 211 million metric tons a year by 2050, with AI accounting for 15 to 20 percent. The warning comes amid weak recycling systems: less than a quarter of the world’s 68.3 million annual tons of e-waste is formally collected and recycled, while informal processing can expose workers and communities to toxic materials. BAN says governments and companies need to plan for the waste created by AI infrastructure, although the projections are estimates rather than observed future totals.