OpenAI has pitched the Biden administration on the need for massive data centres that could each use as much power as entire cities, framing the unprecedented expansion as necessary to develop more advanced artificial intelligence (AI) models and compete with China. 

Following a recent meeting at the White House, which was attended by OpenAI chief executive officer Sam Altman and other tech leaders, the startup shared a document with government officials outlining the economic and national security benefits of building five-gigawatt (GW) data centres in various US states, based on an analysis the company engaged with outside experts on. To put that in context, 5GW is roughly the equivalent of five nuclear reactors, or enough to power almost three million homes.

OpenAI said investing in these facilities would result in tens of thousands of new jobs, boost gross domestic product and ensure the US can maintain its lead in AI development, according to the document, which was viewed by Bloomberg News. To achieve that, however, the US needs policies that support greater data centre capacity, the document said.

Altman has spent much of this year trying to form a global coalition of investors to fund the costly physical infrastructure required to support rapid AI development, while also working to secure the US government’s blessing for the project. But details of the energy capacity of the data centres Altman and OpenAI are calling for have not previously been reported. 

“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 reindustrialisation across the country, and making AI’s benefits accessible to everyone,” a spokesperson for OpenAI said in a statement provided to Bloomberg News. 

The push comes as power projects in the US are facing delays due to long wait times to connect to grids, permitting delays, supply chain issues and labour shortages. But energy executives have said powering even a single 5GW data centre would be a challenge. 

Joe Dominguez, the CEO of Constellation Energy Corp, said he had heard Altman talking about building five to seven data centres that are each 5GW. The document shared with the White House does not provide a specific number. OpenAI’s aim is to focus on a single data centre to start, but with plans to potentially expand from there, according to a person familiar with the matter.

“Whatever we are talking about is not only something that’s never been done, but I don’t believe it’s feasible as an engineer, as somebody who grew up in this,” Dominguez told Bloomberg News. “It’s certainly not possible under a time frame that’s going to address national security and timing.”

The US has a total of 96GW of installed capacity of nuclear power. Last week, OpenAI’s biggest investor, Microsoft Corp, struck a deal with Constellation, in which the nuclear provider will restart the shuttered Three Mile Island facility solely to provide Microsoft with nuclear power for two decades.

In June, John Ketchum, the CEO of NextEra Energy Inc, said the clean-energy giant had received requests from some tech companies to find sites that can support 5GW of demand, without naming any specific firms. “Think about that. That’s the size of powering the city of Miami,” he said.

That much power would require a mix of new wind and solar farms, battery storage and a connection to the grid, Ketchum said. He added that finding a site that could accommodate 5GW would take some work, but there are places in the US that can fit 1GW.

  - Bloomberg