Electricity demand growth is resilient to tariffs, Engie CEO says

PARIS (Reuters) -Developments in electrification and data centres for artificial intelligence should be 'particularly resilient' to the trade war started by the United States with the implementation of tariffs, French utility Engie's CEO Catherine MacGregor said on Thursday.

Uncertainty around tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump has hit stock markets hard over the last month, and the International Energy Agency has said that the trade wars could provide challenges for the emerging data-centre sector and cause slower growth.

"To meet our net zero objectives at the European level, even if you don't have much economic growth you are going to need to electrify and this ... drives electricity demand growth," MacGregor told Reuters at the company's annual general assembly.

Electrification refers to the process of developing batteries for electric vehicles and other processes necessary to meet climate goals.

"Then the other aspect is AI and data centres. As hyperscalers invest in training capability ... it's fairly immune to economic (impacts) because it is a bit like (research and development) investment," she said.

Engie is involved in various data centre development and cooling projects, and is also working on developing ways to cover a majority of data centre power needs from renewable or sustainable energy.

(HgReporting by Forrest Crellin; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)