Biden opens federal land for AI data centers, sets rules for developers

President Joe Biden issued an executive order Thursday aimed at speeding domestic construction of artificial intelligence infrastructure and shoring up the national security risk involved in the technology.

The move empowers the U.S. Department of Defense and Department of Energy to lease federal sites for gigawatt-scale AI data centers.

“AI is poised to have large effects across our economy, including in health care, transportation, education, and beyond, and it is too important to be offshored,” the White House said in a release.

The order also issued guidelines for AI developers using the sites to not only build, operate and maintain the leased centers at full cost, but also to deliver clean energy resources to match their capacity needs to prevent increases in electricity costs.

Companies leasing the federal lands will also be required to purchase an “appropriate share” of U.S.-manufactured semiconductors and to pay workers “prevailing wages”, according to the release. After the agencies select the sites, developers can submit lease proposals.

Global electricity consumption from data centers, AI and the cryptocurrency sector is expected to double between 2022 and 2026, according to a report from the International Energy Agency.

AI models, especially large language models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, rely on data centers to train on vast amounts of data and generate more sophisticated, human-like answers to user prompts. To cool the power-intensive structures, AI developers have had to increase water consumption, which critics have pointed out as harmful to the environment and unsustainable in the long run.

Tech firms have responded by exploring other forms of power to maintain their data centers. In recent months, Google, Microsoft and Amazon have each announced nuclear power deals, with Microsoft signing a deal with Constellation to bring the Three Mile Island reactor back online.

Additional reporting by CNBC’s Ryan Browne.