The AI gold rush is in full swing, but the industry’s multibillion-dollar profits come with a significant environmental price. AI favorite Nvidia (NVDA) is set to report earnings after the market closes on Wednesday, and the results could influence the next major move for AI-related stocks. Wall Street analysts forecast another strong quarter of earnings growth, fueled by rising demand from companies rapidly expanding AI infrastructure. According to Yahoo Finance data, about 87% of analysts covering Nvidia rate it as a Strong Buy or Buy. “Nvidia is the key chip player driving the AI Revolution, ” Wedbush tech analyst Dan Ives told Yahoo Finance. However, while Wall Street remains optimistic, environmental advocates are raising alarms. Nvidia designs GPUs powering everything from ChatGPT to autonomous vehicles but outsources manufacturing to foundries, or “fabs. ” The company commands roughly 80% of the AI chip market. Most AI chip production occurs in East Asia, where energy consumption is soaring. These fabs are energy-hungry and mainly rely on fossil fuels. In Taiwan, for example, over 80% of electricity still comes from coal, oil, and gas. Electricity consumption from AI chipmaking surged more than 350% between 2023 and 2024, according to a 2025 Greenpeace East Asia report. In Taiwan alone, the industry uses as much electricity as 93, 000 households, Greenpeace notes. Globally, electricity demand for AI chip production is projected to approach 40, 000 gigawatt-hours by 2030, exceeding current total electricity use in Ireland, Greenpeace adds. By 2027, AI-related power requirements could match Argentina’s current total electricity consumption, according to a recent New York Times study. Moreover, data centers packed with Nvidia’s powerful chips—which are essential for training and running large language models such as OpenAI’s (OPAI. PVT) ChatGPT or Meta’s (META) Llama—are highly energy-intensive. Alphabet (GOOG) has admitted it will likely miss climate targets due to growing AI power demands. The future of AI is being built chip by chip, but as the sector expands, so does its environmental footprint.

Keep this in mind as you review Nvidia’s financial results and listen to CEO Jensen Huang during the earnings call. The World Economic Forum (WEF) cautions that these profits come with a cost. “To reduce AI’s environmental impact, rapid data center growth must be powered by sustainable, responsible energy sources, ” the WEF stated in a white paper earlier this year. “The large financial investments required in some regions may be unaffordable for many countries. Thus, viable alternatives and strong cooperation among energy providers, environmental groups, technology companies, and governments are essential. ”