Big Tech is poaching energy talent to fuel AI ambitions

Big tech companies are actively hiring energy talent.

Technology companies investing heavily in artificial intelligence are ramping up their workforces with energy experts to overcome the biggest bottleneck in scaling AI: access to electricity.

Energy jobs grew 34% in 2024 from the previous year, according to data compiled for CNBC by Workforce.ai. Employment last year roughly matched this pace, remaining 30% higher than pre-AI levels in 2022, when ChatGPT was released at the end of the year.

AI ambitions depend on powering insatiable data centers. Energy is becoming increasingly important to Big Tech companies. According to the International Energy Agency, data centers will account for approximately 1.5% of global electricity consumption in 2024, representing a 12% year-on-year increase over the past five years. Demand is widely expected to increase further as infrastructure improves.

Meeting that demand is one of the biggest hurdles for Big Tech, as companies bring energy knowledge in-house to build their own supply, sometimes swallowing entire companies in the process.

This marks a gradual shift away from the traditional sustainability role, which boomed during the Inflation Control Act era but lost momentum amid a broader ESG backlash that intensified as US President Donald Trump’s second term began. Instead, they are looking for operational roles such as energy procurement, markets, grid interfaces and strategy, according to energy recruiters who spoke to CNBC.

microsoft has been a quiet winner in the talent war, adding more than 570 employees since 2022, including Betsy Beck, who joined last January as energy market director. She previously held energy markets and policy roles. google. Microsoft also selected former General Electric Chief Financial Officer Carolina Dybeck-Happe to become its chief operating officer in 2024. This is perhaps an early sign of a mega-cap strategy.

This data also includes subsidiary AWS, which is second only to Amazon with 605 energy-related jobs.

Google is catching up to its Silicon Valley neighbors when it comes to AI, and the drop in stock price of its parent company Alphabet seems to be paying off. Last week, the company’s market capitalization exceeded Apple’s for the first time since 2019.

The tech giant’s energy strategy (which has added 340 jobs since 2022) is also gaining attention. Eric Schubert, Energy Regulatory Affairs Advisor, formerly blood pressure He joined Google in January after nearly 14 years, according to his LinkedIn profile. Google hired Duke University researcher Tyler Norris as head of energy markets innovation in November and is continuing to expand its energy markets and policy team.

In addition to acquiring individual talent, Big Tech companies are acquiring energy companies and expanding their work with contractors. Notably, Alphabet plans to acquire data center company Intersect in a $4.75 billion cash deal that includes debt assumption.

Daniel Smart, group CEO of Green Recruitment Company, says there is an increasing demand for people to fill project and construction manager and land acquisition roles, but rather than full-time positions, he is being served on temporary contracts to oversee the initial build-out of these tech giants’ infrastructure.

Such companies are comfortable owning, financing and running energy projects, but “they’ve never built a project before, and that’s not really their core business,” Smart said. “So they’re going to outsource the construction, they’re going to outsource the operations in some cases, and they’re going to just buy the energy. So there are different models and different ways to do that.”

A “second phase” would look to make data centers more energy efficient, which would likely lead to a more permanent role, he added, but it’s not a priority right now because “there’s a scramble just to get energy.”

This could create difficulties for utilities and other energy companies currently battling Big Tech’s deep pockets for talent.

Jeff Anderson, director of business development at Taylor Hopkinsons, a renewable energy recruitment consulting firm, said his team is “starting to realize the opportunities in data centers and the high salaries in tech, and we’re talking to senior energy infrastructure candidates who are considering and planning long-term career moves.”

“In the short term, the talent market will be tight. The skill sets that tech companies are recruiting for (energy strategy, PPAs, grid connections, etc.) are already in demand across renewables and utilities. The talent is there, but it’s finite, and that means competition for specialists with concrete project experience will intensify,” he added.

Travis Miller, senior equity energy and utilities analyst at Morningstar, said rising energy demand actually presents a “huge opportunity” for utilities and their employees, as tech companies look to them for support rather than viewing them as acquisition targets. “That’s the most efficient way to do it, both from a workforce standpoint and from an infrastructure standpoint,” Miller told CNBC.

“It’s impossible for them to do it themselves because it requires too much energy,” he added.

Big Tech has power purchase agreements with a variety of companies, including those working on nuclear energy. On Friday, Meta announced it had signed a contract with a small modular nuclear reactor company. Oklo — went public in 2024 through Sam Altman’s special acquisition vehicle — and Vistra And Terra Power. Oklo and Vistra saw their stock prices soar more than 17% on the news.

However, Meta also applied to become a power trader with the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in November. Amazon, Google and Microsoft have already received approval, which would allow them to sell excess electricity from their own supplies back to the grid.

“There are some high-tech companies that are turning into energy companies,” Smart said, adding that for now they are only for their own use.

“But once connected, you can also sell the additional energy you produce to your neighbors or to the grid.”