United States President Joe Biden signed an executive order to address the significant energy demands of advanced AI data centers by providing federal support.
White House on Tuesday said the order enables the leasing of federal sites owned by the Defense and Energy departments to host gigawatt-scale AI data centers and clean power facilities, addressing these massive energy needs on an expedited timeline.
The increase in data center power consumption from AI will be 200 terawatt-hours per year between 2023 and 2030, Goldman Sachs Research estimates. By 2028, AI will represent about 19 percent of data center power demand.
For instance, a single ChatGPT query requires 2.9 watt-hours of electricity, compared with 0.3 watt-hours for a Google search, according to the International Energy Agency.
White House said the order mandates companies utilizing federal land for AI data centers to purchase an appropriate share of American-made semiconductors, with the exact quantity determined on a project-by-project basis. This requirement aligns with the Biden administration’s investment of over $30 billion to subsidize U.S. semiconductor production.
Joe Biden highlighted the initiative’s goals to accelerate the development of AI infrastructure within the United States, enhancing economic competitiveness, national security, AI safety, and clean energy efforts.
White House technology adviser Tarun Chhabra underscored the importance of building infrastructure to support the increasing computational and energy demands of frontier AI models, which are the most advanced in existence. Tarun Chhabra projected that by 2028, leading AI developers will need data centers with capacities of up to five gigawatts to train these models, Reuters news report said.
The Commerce Department announced additional restrictions on AI chip and technology exports to maintain advanced computing capabilities within the United States and its allies while curbing access by China.
Tarun Chhabra has emphasized the national security imperative of developing domestic data centers to ensure secure storage and training of the most powerful AI systems, mitigating risks such as cyberattacks and the potential misuse of AI for military purposes, including biological, chemical, radiological, and nuclear weapon development.
The executive order also calls for federal agencies to facilitate the interconnection of these AI data centers to the electric grid, streamline permitting processes, and advance transmission infrastructure development around federal sites. These measures aim to prevent adversaries from accessing powerful AI systems and ensure the United States remains a leader in advanced AI development.
Rajani Baburajan
