U.S. President Trump announced on Thursday that he would speed up the construction of artificial intelligence (AI) power plants through an emergency declaration in response to competition between China and the United States in this field. "We will build power generation facilities and I will get approval through an emergency declaration without having to wait for years. I can do it myself," he said in an online speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Trump said the plants could run on any form of fuel and made clear his administration would not set any climate goals for the AI industry. He recommended that power plants use coal as an emergency backup energy source. "There are companies in the United States that store coal next to power plants so that it can be used immediately in an emergency," he said.
Trump declared a national energy emergency on his first day in office, directing federal agencies to use all emergency powers at their disposal to accelerate energy infrastructure projects.
Just one day later, Trump announced a joint investment plan with OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank to inject billions of dollars into artificial intelligence infrastructure through a project called "Stargate."
With the rapid development of artificial intelligence data centers, the demand for electricity is expected to grow significantly in the coming years. Currently, technology companies building AI data centers are primarily focused on sourcing renewable energy, but interest in nuclear energy is also increasing to meet their growing power needs.
While the tech industry invests in carbon-free energy to meet its climate goals, analysts believe natural gas will play a key role in powering AI because it is plentiful, more reliable than renewables and deployed faster than nuclear power.
Trump has also said he wants the power plants to be connected directly to data centers rather than running power through the grid. “There’s no need to be plugged into an old and potentially broken grid,” he explains. The arrangement, known as co-location, faces opposition from some utility companies. The companies are worried about losing fee revenue and have warned that removing power from the grid could lead to supply shortages.