Sam Altman Just Pitched The Biden Administration On A Massive Build Out Of AI Data Centers

While most of the news this week about Sam Altman has been centered around the nearly $10 billion in equity he could be receiving in OpenAI, another headline slipped through the cracks mid-week: OpenAI has pitched the Biden administration on a build-out of massive data centers.

OpenAI has urged the Biden administration to support the construction of massive data centers, each consuming as much power as a city, to advance AI development and compete with China.

After a recent White House meeting attended by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, the company submitted a document outlining the economic and security benefits of building 5-gigawatt data centers across several U.S. states—equivalent to the output of five nuclear reactors, enough to power 3 million homes, according to Bloomberg.

The Bloomberg report says that OpenAI argued that these data centers would create tens of thousands of jobs, boost GDP, and secure U.S. leadership in AI.

However, achieving this requires supportive policies to expand data center capacity. Altman has been seeking a global coalition of investors and U.S. government backing for the project, though the specific energy needs have not been previously disclosed.

Altman in DC/Bloomberg

“OpenAI is actively working to strengthen AI infrastructure in the US, which we believe is critical to keeping America at the forefront of global innovation, boosting reindustrialization across the country, and making AI’s benefits accessible to everyone,” OpenAI told Bloomberg. 

And how would these data centers be powered? We can venture a guess…

Recall earlier this week we wrote that Altman-backed Nuclear SMR company Oklo announced it had finalized an agreement with the Department of Energy to advance the next phase of sitting at the Idaho National Lab. 

“As the only advanced fission company with a DOE site use permit, along with substantial regulatory progress and a secured fuel supply, Oklo is uniquely positioned to deploy the first commercial advanced fission power plant in the U.S,” it said in a release. 

As we’ve noted this past week, the nuclear energy embrace is starting to make its way across the country. Recall, just hours ago Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro was urging for Three Mile Island to reopen as quickly as possible. 

Recall we wrote last week the owner of Three Mile Island is investing $1.6 billion to revive the plant and has agreed to sell all of its output to Microsoft, which is seeking power for its data centers. 

This momentum continues our “Next AI Trade” that we pointed out in April of this year, where we outlined various investment opportunities for powering up America, playing out. Backed by OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Oklo remains one of our favorite names in nuclear.