President Biden signs executive order to open federal lands to accelerate construction of AI data centers
- Biden wants to roll out more powerful AI data centers in the US
- “Frontier AI data centers” will be able to develop powerful AI models
- Operators must also consider clean energy and safety measures
US President Joe Biden has signed an agreement executive order to expedite the construction of data centers in the country.
The order outlines a focus on developing domestic AI infrastructure, as well as plans for how the White House plans to improve national security while addressing environmental issues such as clean energy generation.
Key to the order is that the Department of Defense and Department of Energy must each identify three suitable locations for so-called “frontier AI data centers” by early 2025.
Biden wants the US to take the lead with AI data centers
The President defined “frontier AI data centers” as facilities “that can be used to develop, within a reasonable time frame, an AI model with characteristics related to its performance or to the computing resources used in its development and that approximately match or better than the current state. of art at the time of the development of the AI model.”
As part of the planned data center expansion, President Biden said operators must match their electricity consumption on an hourly basis with clean energy such as geothermal energy, nuclear energy, wind energy and solar energy.
Just days before he hands over office to Donald Trump, and in light of ongoing geopolitical tensions, Biden also said campuses must impose strict physical and cybersecurity standards, including further down the supply chain.
“The executive order announced today will ensure that the United States has the infrastructure – including large-scale data centers and clean energy facilities – needed to maintain America’s competitive advantage and safeguard our national security interests,” said Vice President Kamala Harris.
The news comes shortly after President-elect Trump confirmed that Emirati billionaire Hussain Sajwani would invest $20 billion or more in US AI infrastructure.