Biden Signs Executive Order To Accelerate Ai Infrastructure Build-out In The Us

President Joe Biden in the Oval Office.

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• President Joe Biden signed an executive order that aims to speed up AI infrastructure projects.
• It directs the DOD and DOE to lease land to the private sector for building AI data centers.
• The executive order requires developers to build clean energy sources to power their data centers.

President Joe Biden has signed an executive order to accelerate the scale-up of AI infrastructure in the US to meet the massive energy and supply needs of the "cutting-edge" technology.

Biden said on Tuesday that the executive order will direct the departments of Defense and Energy to lease federal sites to the private sector for building "frontier AI infrastructure at speed and scale."

According to the White House, private sector access to federal sites for building "gigawatt-scale AI data centers" will be determined by "competitive solicitations" for proposals.

Private companies leasing the land would be required to cover the cost of building and operating the sites, including the build-out of clean energy sources for powering data centers.

Biden, who is serving his final days in office, said the US cannot take its lead in AI for granted. The technology is set to have "profound implications for national security and enormous potential to improve Americans' lives if harnessed responsibly," Biden said.

"That is why today, I am signing an historic Executive Order to accelerate the speed at which we build the next generation of AI infrastructure here in America, in a way that enhances economic competitiveness, national security, AI safety, and clean energy," Biden said.

The move from Biden comes at a critical time for the AI sector.

Industry leaders say progress for leading AI companies — which have invested billions of dollars in the technology — depends on an extraordinary build-out of infrastructure.

Expensive data centers and clean energy supplies are needed to train, host, and run new models sustainably, while chip plants that supply vital computing power are being demanded closer to home after years of reliance on chipmaking facilities overseen in the East by the likes of Taiwan's TSMC.

In September, OpenAI boss Sam Altman wrote in a blog that "if we don't build enough infrastructure, AI will be a very limited resource that wars get fought over, and that becomes mostly a tool for rich people."

Biden addressed the need for the US to become self-sufficient, noting in his statement that "we will not let America be out-built when it comes to the technology that will define our future."

The executive order will likely be a boost for private sector companies that have shown increasing interest in AI infrastructure development over the past few years.

In September, Microsoft and BlackRock announced the creation of a $30 billion megafund designed to drive "significant infrastructure investment" and "enhance American competitiveness in AI." The fund's total investment potential is $100 billion, they said.

SoftBank boss Masayoshi Son, whose company is betting big on AI, also committed in December to investing $100 billion in AI infrastructure in the US over the next four years after meeting President-elect Donald Trump.