Trump Plans To Supersize AI
Although there is no plan to supply the industry with electricity, President Donald Trump aims for the US to be the world’s dominant AI power. Since much of this is related to science and broad acceptance, a government mandate may be a modest contribution.
According to Semafor, “The plan recommends several rollbacks to environmental oversight to speed up the permitting process for new energy infrastructure, and proposes the federal government’s embrace of new energy generation sources at the technological frontier.” The media outlet pointed out that this does not add any new programs to the administration’s toolkit for energy companies.
AI Energy Policy
It is also unclear why the Administration believes this will help address the AI energy problem. Trump has already rolled back support for offshore wind and several solar power tax credits. This will make renewables much harder to fund and view as riskier investments. Several companies have already withdrawn from the industrial solar sector.
It will take more than public policy to grow the electricity supply. However, the catalyst may already exist. Among the tech companies, including Amazon, Meta, Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI, there are plans to invest over $1 trillion in building server centers. Each knows that fossil fuels alone will be insufficient to meet the needs. These companies may be among the largest investors in renewable energy in history. What tax credits cannot do may be done by massive amounts of capital.
