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President Biden on Tuesday signed an ambitious executive order that he says will keep both national security and climate change in mind while accelerating expansion artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure in the United States.
Biden said in a statement released by the White House that the executive order “will accelerate the speed at which we build the next generation of AI infrastructure here in America, in a way that improves economic competitiveness, national security, AI security and clean energy.” Directs Ministry of Defense and the Department of Energy “to lease federal sites where the private sector can build frontier AI infrastructure at speed and scale.”
“The United States is leading the world on the frontier of artificial intelligence (AI). Advanced artificial intelligence will have profound implications for national security and enormous potential to improve the lives of Americans if used responsibly, from helping to cure disease to keeping communities safe by mitigating the effects of climate change, however , we cannot take our leadership for granted,” Biden said. “We will not allow America to be outgunned when it comes to the technology that will define the future, nor should we sacrifice critical environmental standards and our collective efforts to protect clean air and clean water.”
An Amazon Web Services data center is seen Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024, in Boardman, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)
The order “will ensure that the infrastructure needed for advanced AI operations — including large-scale data centers and new clean energy infrastructure — can be built at speed and scale here in the United States,” Biden said, adding, “These efforts are designed to accelerate the transition to clean energy in a way that is responsible and respectful of local communities, and in a way that imposes no new costs on American families.”
“Building an AI infrastructure in the United States is a national security imperative,” Biden said. “As AI capabilities grow, so do its implications for the security and protection of Americans. Domestic data centers to train and operate powerful AI models will help the United States facilitate safe and secure AI development, harness AI in the service of national security, and prevent enemies from accessing powerful systems to the detriment of our military and national security.”
“It will also help prevent America from becoming dependent on other countries for access to powerful artificial intelligence tools,” he added.
Vice President Harris, who attended the first ever global AI summit held in London in November 2023, said in a statement on Tuesday that “the significant electricity needs of large-scale artificial intelligence operations also present a new opportunity to advance US leadership in clean energy technology, which will power our future economy.” “By activating the full force of the federal government to accelerate and scale up artificial intelligence operations here in the United States, we are securing our global leadership in artificial intelligence, which will have a profound impact on our economy, society and national security for generations to come,” she added.
Under the new rules, the defense and energy ministries will identify at least three locations where the private sector can build artificial intelligence data centers. The agencies will initiate “competitive bidding” from private companies to build artificial intelligence data centers on those federal sites, senior administration officials said.
Developers who build on these sites will have to, among other things, pay for the construction of these facilities and bring in a sufficient amount of “clean energy” to meet the needs for the full capacity of their data centers. Although the U.S. government will lease the land to a company, that company would own the materials it creates there, officials said.
President Biden at a wildfire briefing in the Oval Office on Monday, January 13, 2025. (Chris Kleponis/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Developers selected to build on government sites will have to pay all the costs of building and operating the AI infrastructure so that the development does not increase electricity prices for consumers, the administration said.
The orders also direct construction of artificial intelligence data centers at federal sites to be done under public labor contracts. Some of the spots are reserved for small and medium-sized AI companies, according to government officials.
Government agencies will also complete a study on the effects of all AI data centers on electricity prices and Department of Energy will provide technical assistance to state public utility commissions on the design of electricity rates that can support connecting new large customers to clean energy.
As part of the order, the Interior Department will identify lands it manages that are suitable for clean energy development and can support data centers on government sites, administration officials said.
“The amount of computing power, electricity needed to train and operate frontier models is increasing rapidly and will continue to increase,” Tarun Chhabra, deputy assistant to the president and coordinator for technology and national security, told The Associated Press. “By 2028, we expect leading AI developers to aim to operate data centers with as much as five gigawatts of capacity for training AI models.”
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan speaks during a news conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on January 13, 2025. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Implementing AI systems on a large scale also requires a wider network of data centers in different parts of the country, he said.
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The executive order comes on the heels of new restrictions on exports of artificial intelligence chips proposed by the Biden administration, an attempt to balance national security concerns about the technology with the economic interests of manufacturers and other countries. Biden’s White House released its “final rule” on the spread of artificial intelligence on Monday, drawing backlash from chip industry executives as well as European Union officials over export restrictions that would affect 120 countries.
“We’re trying to find the right balance between making sure that the frontier of AI remains in the United States and our close allies, while also making sure that the rest of the world can benefit from AI and get the hardware they need to power AI applications in the future,” he said. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters at the White House on Monday. “We think this, in a bipartisan spirit, is the best way to preserve and protect America’s leadership in artificial intelligence.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
