OpenAI has proposed an ambitious plan to the Biden administration for the construction of massive data centres across the United States.
These centres, each requiring up to 5 gigawatts of power - enough to sustain a medium-sized city - are deemed essential by OpenAI for the development of advanced artificial intelligence models, according to recent communications between the company and government officials.
The proposal followed a White House meeting attended by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and other prominent tech leaders.
Bloomberg reported that OpenAI presented the administration with a detailed document outlining the economic and national security benefits of constructing data centres of this scale.
The company’s analysis, conducted with external experts, suggests that such an infrastructure buildout would generate tens of thousands of new jobs and significantly boost the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), while helping to maintain the nation’s competitive edge in AI development.
The proposed data centres would be as powerful as five nuclear reactors, each with the capacity to power almost 3 million homes. However, to realise this goal, OpenAI emphasised the need for supportive U.S. policies that would allow for increased data centre capacity.
A spokesperson for OpenAI stated, "OpenAI is actively working to strengthen AI infrastructure in the U.S., which we believe is critical to keeping America at the forefront of global innovation, boosting reindustrialisation across the country, and making AI’s benefits accessible to everyone."
OpenAI’s proposal comes at a time when large-scale energy projects in the U.S. are facing numerous hurdles, including delays in grid connection, permitting backlogs, supply chain disruptions, and labor shortages. Energy experts have highlighted that powering even a single 5 gigawatt data centre would be an enormous challenge.
Joe Dominguez, CEO of Constellation Energy Corp., commented on the scale of OpenAI's ambitions, stating that he has heard Altman is aiming to build multiple 5 gigawatt data centres. “It’s certainly not possible under a timeframe that’s going to address national security and timing,” Dominguez told Bloomberg News.
The U.S. currently has around 96 gigawatts of nuclear power capacity. In a notable development, OpenAI’s largest investor, Microsoft, recently secured a deal with Constellation to restart the dormant Three Mile Island nuclear facility, exclusively to power Microsoft’s operations for the next 20 years.
Meanwhile, the clean-energy sector is already receiving requests from technology companies for sites that can support this level of energy demand.
John Ketchum, CEO of NextEra Energy Inc., noted that tech firms, though unnamed, have requested locations capable of supporting up to 5 gigawatts of power. "That’s the size of powering the city of Miami," Ketchum remarked.
He added that such demands would require a combination of renewable energy sources like wind and solar farms, energy storage, and significant grid infrastructure improvements.