Recently, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, held a significant meeting at the White House with U.S. government officials to discuss the necessity of constructing large-scale data centers in the United States.
Each of these data centers consumes as much electricity as a small city. OpenAI believes that such expansion is crucial for advancing more sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) models and is an essential measure to ensure the U.S. maintains a leading position in the global tech competition.
Image Source Note: The image was generated by AI, provided by the image licensing service Midjourney
According to a report compiled by OpenAI in collaboration with external experts, the construction of 5 gigawatt (GW) level data centers would bring significant economic and national security benefits. To better understand, this 5GW of power is equivalent to the output of five nuclear reactors, capable of providing electricity for nearly 3 million households. OpenAI emphasizes in the report that investing in these data centers will not only create thousands of jobs but also drive the growth of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP).
However, to achieve this goal, the U.S. needs to implement policies supporting the construction of larger data centers. While pushing global investors to jointly invest in this high-cost infrastructure, Altman is also striving to obtain government approval and support. Currently, constructing data centers of this scale faces numerous challenges, including grid connection wait times, permit delays, supply chain issues, and labor shortages.
Some executives in the energy industry have expressed that building a single 5GW level data center would be highly challenging. For instance, Joe Dominguez, CEO of Constellation Energy Corp., stated that while he has heard Altman plans to build 5 to 7 such data centers, the actual construction of this scale is unprecedented in engineering terms and unrealistic for addressing national security issues in the short term.
The U.S. currently has a total installed nuclear capacity of 96GW, and Microsoft Corp., one of OpenAI's largest investors, recently reached an agreement with Constellation to restart the closed Three Mile Island nuclear power plant specifically to provide nuclear power for Microsoft. These developments undoubtedly make people look forward to the future of the U.S. in the tech field.
Key Points:
🌐 OpenAI proposes the construction of 5GW level massive data centers to drive AI model development and maintain the U.S.'s leading position in global tech competition.
⚡ Investing in these data centers will create numerous jobs and boost GDP growth, but requires government policy support.
🏗️ The construction of such large-scale data centers faces engineering and energy access challenges, with industry executives expressing concerns.
