Modern data centers face increasing pressure to reduce carbon emissions as their energy demands continue to rise. Studies estimate that data centers consume around 1% of global electricity, while U.S. data centers alone account for 2% of national electricity use. In China, total data center energy consumption reached 93.9 billion kWh in 2020, with projections expecting this number to climb to 380 billion kWh by 2030.
Against this backdrop, improving server energy efficiency has become one of the most direct and impactful strategies for reducing data center energy consumption.
Servers: The Primary Power Consumers #
Servers represent the single largest share of hardware energy usage in data centers. As workloads diversify and intensify, server power draw continues to expand.
According to CAICT:
- China operated 19 million servers in 2021
- Annual consumption: 110 billion kWh
- Each server emitted ~2600 kg of CO₂ per year
In typical data center energy breakdowns, servers and cooling each account for around 43% of total electricity use. Reducing server power therefore directly lowers both compute and cooling costs.
Why CPU Power Efficiency Matters Most #
The CPU is the dominant power consumer inside a server—responsible for up to 70% of system energy usage. Even more importantly, cooling and auxiliary power scale with CPU consumption.
Research shows:
Every 1W reduced at the CPU level saves 2.84W in total system and cooling power.
This makes CPU efficiency the single most effective lever for reducing data center carbon emissions.
The most impactful approach is to increase CPU core density, enabling more workloads per chip and fewer servers overall.
Moor Insights & Strategy analyst Matt Kimball explains:
“Increasing CPU utilization and core density has a massive impact on data center power consumption. Fewer, more efficient servers deliver the biggest energy savings.”
AMD EPYC: Significant Gains in Energy Efficiency #
Modern AMD EPYC processors—especially the 4th-generation EPYC 9654 and Zen 4c–based Bergamo—are engineered for high core density and exceptional performance-per-watt.
Key findings from third-party and internal evaluations: #
- Running 2,000 virtual machines on EPYC 9654 required
35% fewer servers than comparable x86 systems - Resulting in a 29% reduction in annual energy consumption
- EPYC servers consistently deliver lower carbon emissions per performance unit, nearly all below 30 kg CO₂ across a 5-year lifecycle
Example (SPEC score 8,000):
- 21 × Intel Xeon Gold 6342
- 16 × Intel Xeon Platinum 8380
- 11 × AMD EPYC 7763
→ Up to 10 fewer servers
→ 43% less lifecycle carbon emissions
→ Equivalent to the annual CO₂ absorption of 8,100+ trees
Energy Efficiency Benchmarks #
SPECpower_ssj®2008 #
- EPYC 9654 performs 1.8× better than the Intel Xeon Platinum 8490H
- In a 2,000-VM scenario:
- 11 × EPYC 9654 servers
- vs. 17 × Xeon 8490H servers
- → 35% fewer servers
- → 29% lower power consumption
- → 46% CapEx savings
Zen 4c “Bergamo” Uplift #
The EPYC 97x4 (Bergamo) with 128 Zen 4c cores further amplifies efficiency:
- Replaces 38 servers from competing top-tier CPUs
- With only 15 Bergamo servers
- → 61% server reduction
- → 66% annual power savings
- → ~120 tons less CO₂ per year
Conclusion #
As data centers grow and energy constraints tighten, CPU efficiency is becoming a central strategy for carbon reduction. AMD EPYC processors—especially the latest Zen 4 and Zen 4c generations—offer:
- High core density
- Strong performance-per-watt
- Measurable reductions in servers, electricity use, and carbon output
For organizations seeking meaningful reductions in footprint, OPEX, and emissions, AMD EPYC represents one of the most effective modernization paths available today.