Washington: US President Donald Trump has set up a new energy council to tackle the growing electricity requirements aimed at strengthening the country’s position in his artificial intelligence rival with China.
“We want to be energy -dominant like no one else, and this doesn’t even cover all the electricity we want to produce for all AI plants,” Trump told journalists when he signed the order.
“They need at least twice the electricity we have right now,” he added.
Trump’s Interior Minister Doug Burgum, who also participated in the signing, said, “The United States is in an AI weapon race with China. The only way we win is with more electricity.”
According to the White House, the Council will coordinate energy policy across federal agencies and streamline permission, production and distribution of various energy resources.
The move is in line with Trump’s campaign promises to “drill, baby, drill”, increase domestic oil and gas production and reverse any concerns from the Biden administration on carbon emissions or the impact on climate change.
The goal is also to address potential rising costs from Trump’s trade war, which could see energy prices rise when energy imports or US exports are affected by customs.
The requirements of the AI industry for electrical power are acute, with data plants that already place a heavy load on the country’s overstretched electricity supply.
The supply of electric power in the United States has suffered from chronic under -investing, exacerbated by aging nuclear plants being taken offline.
Technical CEOs have been the intense lobby of Trump administration to focus on the need for power to meet their AI requirements.
In as soon as 2028, officials expect tech companies to have AI training energy needs on as much as five gigawatts -enough to drive about five million homes.
