WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump hailed more than US$92bil in investments in artificial intelligence (AI) and energy infrastructure during a visit to Pennsylvania, highlighting his efforts to bolster US competitiveness in the AI field.
“Today’s commitments are ensuring the future is going to be designed, built and made right here in Pennsylvania and right here in Pittsburgh and, I have to say, right here in the United States of America,” Trump said Tuesday at the inaugural Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit at Carnegie Mellon University.
The investments from multiple companies include new data centres, power generation and grid infrastructure upgrades, along with AI training and apprenticeships, highlighting the administration’s broad approach to securing US dominance over China in the rapidly developing sector.
Trump said some of the companies already had received permits and some facilities were under construction.
Among the investments, Blackstone Inc pledged more than US$25bil to bankroll new data centres and energy infrastructure.
QTS, the data centre business it owns, has secured sites for developments in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Blackstone also formed a joint venture with utility PPL Corp to construct and run gas-fired power plants to meet data centres’ enormous electricity needs.
“What makes us so excited about this area is that you can co-locate the data centres next to the source of power,” Blackstone president Jon Grey said at the event.
“The special sauce here is putting these together because building transmission lines and pipelines – that’s really difficult.”
Blackstone has invested heavily in data centre growth. It bought QTS in 2021 in a US$10bil deal.
Since then, the company has grown into a US$60bil powerhouse, making it one of Blackstone’s best bets to date.
CoreWeave Inc, a provider of AI computing power, plans to invest as much as US$6bil to set up a data centre that will be equipped with Nvidia Corp chips.
Meta Platforms Inc, meanwhile, announced US$2.5mil as part of a programme to support startups in rural communities and is also providing training for small businesses to better harness community resources. Trump also plans to deliver a major address on AI next week as his administration puts the final touches on an action plan he ordered.
The president is expected to sign an executive order after the plan is released to implement its policies, according to a source.
Boosting energy production is also a critical component of Trump’s AI push and one he highlighted.
“We just started, but we’re going to actually end up doing more than them, and it’s going to be done privately, and you can own your own electric plants,” Trump said, citing China’s efforts to ramp up its own power generation.
Google has announced a deal to spend more than US$3bil to buy power for its data centres from Brookfield Asset Management’s hydroelectric plants in an agreement dubbed the world’s largest corporate clean power deal for hydroelectricity.
GE Vernova Inc, meanwhile, announced plans to add 250 new jobs at a factory in Pennsylvania to manufacture products needed to boost electric-grid reliability.
The company now plans to invest up to US$100mil in Pennsylvania over the next two years, adding about 700 new jobs in factories across the state, it said.
FirstEnergy Corp will invest US$15bil to expand power distribution and strengthen grid infrastructure in Pennsylvania counties.
Trump has stressed the importance of boosting coal-fired, natural gas and nuclear energy production to ensure that the United States has enough power to run energy-hungry AI data centres.
Administration officials have argued that adequate electricity supply is intertwined with national security, essential to keeping the United States ahead of global competitors in the AI race.
By 2035, data centres are projected to account for 8.6% of all US electricity demand, more than double their 3.5% share today, according to data from Bloomberg NEF.
The US Energy Department has already used emergency authority to keep two power plants that were slated to close online and has signalled additional federal intervention may be forthcoming.
Trump has sought to draw on private-sector investments, ease regulations and accelerate the permit process for new projects to boost American innovation in AI. — Bloomberg
