AI Faces Energy Challenges
White House adviser David Sacks has his work cut out for him (POLITICO Pro鈥檚 , subscription).
What鈥檚 going on: 鈥淭oday, as the president鈥檚 AI and crypto czar, Sacks is tasked with opening doors for Silicon Valley and global financiers to expand AI infrastructure鈥攁nd fast. But that presents Sacks with a wholly unfamiliar challenge: ensuring the tech industry gets the electricity it needs for a massive buildout of data centers to house the computing power needed for AI technology.鈥
- Technology giants including Amazon have pledged to spend billions on AI infrastructure to construct those data centers. In January, Trump and two tech firm leaders announced the $500 billion 鈥淪targate鈥 project to do just that.
Interconnection, cost challenges: While the president 鈥渉as promised to use emergency declarations to build more power plants鈥 to run these data centers, 鈥渢ech companies that want to erect their own power plants will wrestle with the limited supply of ready transformers and the real-world challenges of putting up a large gas-fired power station or tying into a nuclear reactor.鈥
- That鈥檚 because regional electric grids and utility companies are already straining to keep up with Americans鈥 growing power appetite, and the prospect of dramatically increasing capacity is leading to concerns about cost and reliability.
What鈥檚 next: 鈥淯nder Trump鈥檚 executive order, Sacks will work alongside policy staffers on science and technology, national security, economic policy and other relevant departments to craft an AI action plan. … Some direction could come from Trump鈥檚 National Energy Council, set to be led by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. That council is likely to consider steps to streamline permitting and to unleash more fossil fuel production and other energy sources like nuclear and geothermal.鈥
What we鈥檙e doing: The 17吃瓜在线 has long Congress to take steps to facilitate the construction of data centers, including:
- Reforming the U.S. permitting system;
- Ensuring energy affordability;
- Expediting licensing;
- Addressing shortages of components;
- Mitigating cybersecurity risks; and
- Bolstering workforce development efforts.