OpenAI Urges Biden Administration for Massive Data Centers to Boost AI

OpenAI wants to build huge 5-gigawatt data centers all over the U.S. to improve AI, create jobs, and protect national security, but this needs backing from the government and changes to the rules.

OpenAI has been pitching the Biden administration on the need for huge data centers that could use as much power as whole towns. They say that this unheard-of growth is needed to make AI models smarter and compete with China.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and other tech leaders recently met at the White House. After the meeting, the startup shared a document with government officials that showed how building 5 GW data centers in different US states would help the economy and national security. The document was based on an analysis that the company worked on with outside experts. 5 GW is about the same as five nuclear plants, which is a lot of power. It’s enough to power almost 3 million homes.

OpenAI said that building these facilities would create tens of thousands of new jobs, increase the GDP, and help the US stay ahead in AI research, according to a paper seen by Bloomberg News. But for that to happen, the document said, the US needs laws that allow for bigger data centers.

Sam Altman has spent a lot of time this year trying to get the US government to back the project and building a global coalition of investors to pay for the expensive infrastructure needed to support fast AI development. But the information Altman and OpenAI want about how much energy the data centers can hold has not been made public before.

OpenAI’s Commitment to Strengthening AI Infrastructure

A spokesperson for OpenAI told Bloomberg News, “We are actively working to strengthen AI infrastructure in the US. We believe this is critical to keeping America at the forefront of global innovation, boosting reindustrialization across the country, and making AI’s benefits available to everyone.”

It will take longer for US power projects to get connected to grids because of long wait times, problems with the supply chain, and a lack of workers. But people in charge of energy say it would be hard to power even one 5 GW data center.

CEO of Constellation Energy Corp. Joe Dominguez said he has heard Altman talk about building 5 to 7 5 GW data centers. The number is not given in the paper that was sent to the White House. A person with knowledge of the situation says that OpenAI’s goal is to focus on a single data center at first, but they may decide to grow from there.

The US has 96 GW of nuclear power capability that is already up and running. Microsoft which has invested a lot in OpenAI, made a deal with Constellation last week. The nuclear company will restart the closed Three Mile Island plant just to provide Microsoft with nuclear power for twenty years.

In June, John Ketchum, CEO of NextEra Energy said that some tech companies had asked the clean energy giant to find sites that can handle 5 GW of demand.

Ketchum said that to get that much power, you would need new wind and solar farms, battery storage, and a way to connect to the grid. He also said it would be hard to find a place that could fit 5 GW, but there are places in the US that can fit 1 GW.