Cleaning up the technology industry was supposed to be easy.

Powering server racks and personal computers isn’t nearly as energy-intensive as making concrete or steel.

So until recently, eliminating planet-warming emissions in the tech sector was expected to be relatively straightforward. Tech companies positioned themselves as climate leaders and boasted of their eco-friendly bona fides.

But the sudden emergence of artificial intelligence is casting doubt on those assumptions.

Big tech companies’ bets on a new generation of power-hungry computer chips and data centers are forcing them to significantly increase their power usage.

Microsoft, Google and Amazon are investing in nuclear power. Energy demand, including from Google and Meta, is helping to keep a coal plant in Nebraska running. Natural gas providers are hatching ambitious expansion plans as they prepare to meet the new demand from the tech sector.

At the center of the A.I. boom is Nvidia, the chip-making juggernaut that has, over the past few years, become one of the most valuable companies in the world.

Nvidia’s chips are incredibly power-hungry. As the company rolls out new products, analysts have taken to measuring the amount of electricity needed to power them in terms of cities, or even countries.