US energy department invites AI data center development at Los Alamos and other federal lands

The U.S. Department of Energy mentioned it has recognized 16 federal websites, together with storied nuclear analysis laboratories similar to Los Alamos, the place tech corporations may construct data facilities in a push to speed up industrial development of synthetic intelligence expertise.

The websites are “uniquely positioned for speedy data center development, together with in-place energy infrastructure with the power to fast-track allowing for brand spanking new energy era similar to nuclear,” the company mentioned in an announcement Thursday.

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

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 little interest in rescinding Biden’s data center order.

“I would prefer to see federal lands opened up for data facilities,” Trump mentioned in January. “I feel they’ll be essential.”

The lands recognized as potential websites embrace various 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 data facilities to run on-line companies, from electronic mail and social media to monetary transactions, new AI expertise behind fashionable chatbots and generative AI instruments requires much more highly effective computation to construct and function.

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

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

Whereas Biden’s government order targeted on powering AI infrastructure with clear energy sources similar to “geothermal, photo voltaic, wind, and nuclear,” Thursday’s assertion from Trump’s energy department targeted solely on nuclear. However in a prolonged request for info sought from data center and energy builders, the company outlines a wide range of electrical energy sources accessible at every web site, from photo voltaic arrays to fuel generators.

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