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The US government has signed an executive order aimed at developing massive datacenters to support growing energy demands of large-scale AI operations. The plan includes a requirement for domestic semiconductor manufacturing and is seen as a crucial step towards maintaining American leadership in AI. With the President-elect set to take office soon, it remains uncertain whether the order will be altered or scrapped.
The US government has signed an executive order to develop massive datacenters for AI operations. The order aims to address the significant energy requirements of large-scale AI and supports clean power infrastructure. The plan includes various technologies like nuclear, geothermal, solar, wind, and hydroelectric power to match energy demand. The order requires participants to purchase domestically manufactured semiconductors. The administration's efforts to advance US leadership in AI are likely to continue under the new government despite uncertainty surrounding changes to the order.
The United States government has taken a significant step towards ensuring American leadership in artificial intelligence (AI) by signing an executive order aimed at developing massive datacenters to support the growing energy demands of large-scale AI operations. The order, signed into law by President Joe Biden on Tuesday, directs the Department of Defense and Department of Energy to identify and lease federal land for private sector development of gigawatt-scale datacenters, along with clean power infrastructure necessary to support their full electricity needs.
The ambitious plan, which has been touted as a crucial component of the Biden administration's efforts to maintain US leadership in AI, aims to address the significant energy requirements of large-scale AI operations. According to experts, massive AI compute workloads require extreme amounts of energy, driving cloud and hyperscale operators to embrace emerging energy technologies, fund the construction of new gas plants, and even colocate facilities alongside existing nuclear reactors.
The executive order specifically mentions various technologies that could support the AI's immense energy demands, including nuclear, geothermal, solar, wind, and hydroelectric power. By matching energy generation to datacenter demand, the White House hopes to avoid driving up consumer electricity pricing.
Notably, the plan also includes a requirement for participants to purchase an appropriate share of domestically manufactured semiconductors. This point is potentially problematic, as only a fraction of the processors used in AI systems today are actually built in the US. However, it is worth noting that Intel's Xeon processor family remains manufactured domestically, and recent developments suggest that TSMC's new Arizona fab sites may enable chips from AMD, Nvidia, and others to be built in the US.
The announcement comes amidst growing pressure from AI advocates and model builders, such as OpenAI founder Sam Altman, who has reportedly called on the US to advance a network of multi-gigawatt AI datacenters. The executive order is seen as a crucial step towards addressing these demands and ensuring American leadership in AI.
However, with the President-elect set to take office on Monday, it remains uncertain whether the order will be scrapped or substantially altered — for example dropping clean energy mandates. Despite this uncertainty, the administration's efforts to advance US leadership in AI are likely to continue under the new government.
In a related development, several cloud providers have announced plans to adopt small modular reactors (SMRs) long-term, with most slated for deployment in the early 2030s. The executive order aims to expedite this process and ensure that facilities are operational by late 2027.
The announcement of federal site selection is expected to be made at the end of March 2025. In the meantime, participants will still be responsible for the cost of building and furnishing the datacenters along with procuring clean energy for the sites. The order also directs government agencies to streamline permits and facilitate grid planning.
Overall, the executive order represents a significant commitment by the Biden administration to advancing US leadership in AI through massive datacenter expansion. As the technology landscape continues to evolve, it will be crucial to monitor the progress of this ambitious plan and its potential impact on the nation's energy infrastructure.
Related Information:
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2025/01/14/biden_ai_executive_order/
Published: Tue Jan 14 15:19:24 2025 by llama3.2 3B Q4_K_M
