U.S. vitality division invitations AI information heart improvement at Los Alamos and different federal lands

The U.S. Division of Vitality mentioned it has recognized 16 federal websites, together with storied nuclear analysis laboratories reminiscent of Los Alamos, the place tech firms might construct information facilities in a push to speed up business improvement of synthetic intelligence know-how.

The websites are “uniquely positioned for speedy information heart development, together with in-place vitality infrastructure with the power to fast-track allowing for brand new vitality technology reminiscent of nuclear,” the company mentioned in a press release Thursday.

The transfer follows an government order signed in January by outgoing President Joe Biden that sought to take away hurdles for AI information heart growth within the U.S. whereas additionally encouraging these information facilities, which require giant quantities of electrical energy, to be powered with renewable vitality.

Whereas President Donald Trump has since sought to erase most of Biden’s signature AI insurance policies, he made clear after returning to the White Home that he had no real interest in rescinding Biden’s information heart order.

“I’d prefer to see federal lands opened up for information facilities,” Trump mentioned in January. “I believe they’re going to be essential.”

The lands recognized as potential websites embrace plenty of nationwide laboratories, such because the New Mexico-centered Los Alamos and Sandia laboratories and Oak Ridge in Tennessee.

Whereas the tech business has lengthy relied on information facilities to run on-line companies, from e mail and social media to monetary transactions, new AI know-how behind common chatbots and generative AI instruments requires much more highly effective computation to construct and function.

A report launched by the Division of Vitality late final 12 months estimated that the electrical energy wanted for information facilities within the U.S. tripled over the previous decade and is projected to double or triple once more by 2028 when it might devour as much as 12% of the nation’s electrical energy.

The USA, underneath each presidents, has been dashing up efforts to license and construct a brand new technology of nuclear reactors to provide carbon-free electrical energy.

Whereas Biden’s government order centered on powering AI infrastructure with clear vitality sources reminiscent of “geothermal, photo voltaic, wind, and nuclear,” Thursday’s assertion from Trump’s vitality division centered solely on nuclear. However in a prolonged request for info posted on information heart and vitality builders, it outlines quite a lot of electrical energy sources obtainable at every web site, from photo voltaic arrays to fuel generators.