HK Stock Concept Tracker | AI Drives Accelerated Rise in Global Electricity Demand, Power Becomes Core of Industrial Competition in the Computing Power Era (with Concept Stocks)

Allianz Global Investors' September power research report points out that AI data centers, EV adoption, climate warming, and manufacturing expansion are jointly driving up electricity demand, opening a new era of power consumption. For the first time in 30 years, global electricity demand is growing faster than economic output, and is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 3.6% over the next five years, 50% faster than the pace of the past decade. Allianz believes that this round of electricity demand growth differs from past electricity consumption fluctuations driven by economic cycles, with four long-term DRIVE factors behind it: data centers, transport electrification, air conditioning and heat pumps, and industrial production. Among these, data centers are the fastest-growing source of new demand, expected to contribute about 10% of global incremental electricity demand by 2030. The ever-expanding scale of servers required for AI training and inference is making computing power expansion increasingly constrained by power supply capacity. For AI, semiconductors, batteries, and advanced manufacturing, the factors determining global industrial layout in the future may include not only labor costs, tax rates, and supply chainsstable and cheap electricity will also become a core competitive condition. Allianz expects that to meet electricity demand growth and climate goals, the world may need about $4.8 trillion in annual investment in power generation, transmission, and energy storage over the next decade. TrendForce estimates that global data center electricity demand capacity will reach 161GW in 2026, a year-on-year increase of about 31%, with AI servers as the main growth source, estimated to account for 33.4% of total demand capacity. It is estimated that global data center electricity demand capacity will reach 490.7GW by 2030. On the premise that other electricity demand is met, the capacity available to data centers from the grid will be 222.6GW, leaving a supply-demand gap of 268GW. Along with the explosive growth of the global AI computing power industry and the deployment of hyperscale data centers, the global high-end backup power market is entering a structural dividend cycle. According to McKinsey's latest industry report, global AI computing power electricity demand will continue to expand at high speed, with global AI-related computing power electricity demand achieving several-fold growth from 2025 to 2030, directly driving continued explosive demand for emergency diesel power generation equipment in high-tier data centers. Diesel generator sets, with hardcore advantages such as high reliability, fast response speed, strong load capacity, and high independent stability, have become the "last line of power defense" for high-tier data centers worldwide. CITIC SEC states that massive AI Token demand opens up long-term growth space for computing power, Chinese and U.S. companies are simultaneously increasing capital expenditure, and domestic computing power investment still has considerable upside potential. At the same time, China's power supply and green electricity cost advantages are prominent, green electricity direct connection and source-grid-load-storage integration are accelerating, and computing-power-electricity coordination is building unique industrial advantages. On the industry chain side, computing power construction significantly boosts demand for AI metals such as copper and tin. Coupled with the asset-heavy nature of computing power, IDC REITs continue to broaden funding sources and support industry expansion, giving computing power and electricity-related industry chains medium- to long-term allocation value. Related concept stocks: Dongfang Electric Corporation (01072): Dongfang Electric Corporation has since 2009 been the first in China to carry out development of the heavy-duty F-class 50MW gas turbine (G50) with fully independent intellectual property rights, achieving 100% independent manufacturing of high-temperature components. At the end of 2022, the first G50 was successfully ignited at the site of China Huadian's Guangdong Qingyuan Huaqiao Industrial Park project, and it was officially put into commercial operation in March 2023; in 2025, overseas orders achieved a "zero" breakthrough. Weichai Power (02338): Weichai launched the world's first 5MW high-speed diesel generator set, the 20M61, which, with the hardcore strength of "the world's highest power per liter," broke the long-term monopoly of overseas brands in the ultra-high-power high-end power generation field and successfully opened the door to the global high-end computing power power supply market. Institutions expect that from 2026 to 2028, the profit share related to the AIDC power generation business is expected to rise from 20% to more than 40%, and contribute more than 70% of performance increment. HARBIN ELECTRIC (01133): Citi points out that its independently developed 16MW gas turbine is expected to complete testing in the second half of 2026, after which it can meet commercialization conditions. BOCI states that, considering the rapid expansion trend of AI data centers in Southeast Asia and other places, the company, with its technical accumulation in the gas turbine field, is expected to see related supporting businesses become a new growth point in the future. CN INT DEV CORP (00264): CN INT DEV CORP previously issued announcements on July 26 and August 3 respectively, stating that its subsidiary entered into two prefabricated AIDC module procurement contracts with overseas independent third-party customer Brightray Veridian. The two orders were valued at $24.98 million and $68 million respectively, totaling $93 million (approximately HK$731 million), with project delivery locations both at the AIDC project site in Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia.