Nvidia and Elon Musk’s xAI have joined a Microsoft-backed group to expand the United States’ artificial intelligence infrastructure, as energy demand for AI data centres increases.
The group, known as the AI Infrastructure Partnership, is also supported by BlackRock and Emirati investment firm MGX. Nvidia will act as a technical adviser to the group, as well as a full member.
“The global buildout of AI infrastructure will benefit every company and country that wants to achieve economic growth and unlock solutions to the world’s greatest challenges,” said Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.
“As we welcome new partners to the AI Infrastructure Partnership, we will accelerate innovation and technological breakthroughs to achieve transformational productivity gains across the global economy,” said MGX chair Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan. “Our singular focus is accelerating AI’s responsible and inclusive development for the benefit of humanity.”
Energy equipment company GE Vernova and electric utility company NextEra Energy will also collaborate with the AI Infrastructure Partnership on energy solutions for AI data centres.
The group plans to raise US$30 billion from investors and corporations, and has said this will mobilise up to $100 billion in total investment potential.
Stargate, a similar venture backed by OpenAI, SoftBank, Oracle, and the U.S. government, was unveiled in January. Stargate hopes to invest US$500 billion into AI infrastructure over the next four years, and would open up to 10 new data centres across the U.S.
Nvidia and Microsoft are also technology partners with Stargate, and Microsoft is a major investor in OpenAI. Musk, however, has sued OpenAI, seeking to stop its transition into a for-profit company.
AI is expected to increase data centres’ electricity demands by 160% to 2030, Goldman Sachs found in May. One prompt to OpenAI’s ChatGPT requires almost 10 times more electricity than a Google search, on average.
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