In the field of AI, the United States has made another big move!
On September 12th local time, the White House convened leaders from hyperscale enterprises, artificial intelligence (AI) companies, data center operators, and utility companies to discuss with senior officials of the Biden administration how to meet the large-scale infrastructure needs of artificial intelligence (AI) projects. NVIDIA CEO Renxun Huang, OpenAI CEO Sam Ultraman, Microsoft President Smith, Google President Borat and other tech industry leaders attended the conference.
After the meeting, the White House quickly announced the establishment of an AI data center infrastructure working group to coordinate policies across government departments. In addition, the US Department of Energy will create an AI data center participation team to support the development of AI data centers through various projects.
At the same time, new news has emerged from both Nvidia and OpenAI. Take a look at the detailed report!
New actions from the White House
On the 12th local time, the White House issued a statement stating that today, as part of the Biden Harris administration's comprehensive strategy for responsible innovation, the White House convened leaders from hyperscale enterprises, artificial intelligence (AI) companies, data center operators, and utility companies to discuss measures to ensure that the United States continues to lead the world in the field of artificial intelligence.
It is reported that the technology industry attendees of this roundtable include Nvidia CEO Renxun Huang, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, Google President Borat, Microsoft President Brad Smith, Amazon's Cloud Business Leader Matt Garman, and others. The attending US government officials include US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, US National Security Advisor Jack Sullivan, and US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm. White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Bruce Reed also attended the meeting.
After the meeting, White House spokesperson Robyn Patterson said, "President Biden and Vice President Harris are committed to strengthening America's leadership in the field of AI by building data centers in the United States, while ensuring that the technology can develop responsibly
The White House stated in a statement, "The United States is a global leader in artificial intelligence, and we are taking action to ensure that future AI infrastructure creates employment opportunities for American workers and is built in the United States, powered by clean energy
To promote the public-private partnership around the development of the US AI data center, the White House announced several new actions after the talks:
The White House is launching a new Artificial Intelligence Data Center Infrastructure Working Group to coordinate policies across the entire government. Under the leadership of the National Economic Council, National Security Council, and the Office of the White House Deputy Chief of Staff, the interdepartmental working group will provide simplified policy coordination to advance data center development and operations in accordance with economic, national security, and environmental goals. The working group will collaborate with leaders in artificial intelligence infrastructure to identify opportunities and work with various agencies to ensure adequate resources, designate a single point of contact for agencies, and give appropriate priority to the development of artificial intelligence data centers to reflect the importance of these projects to US national security and economic interests. Finally, based on recent work, the working group will identify existing authorities and areas that require legislative action to modify or strengthen federal authorities to support the development of artificial intelligence data centers.
The US government will expand technical assistance to federal, state, and local authorities handling data center licenses. The licensing committee will collaborate with artificial intelligence data center developers to develop a comprehensive timetable for action by federal agencies in the United States, and will allocate funds to agencies accelerating the evaluation of clean energy projects supporting data centers covered by FAST-41.
The US Department of Energy (DOE) is creating an AI data center participation team to leverage projects to support the development of AI data centers. The US Department of Energy has planned a range of resources, including loans, grants, tax credits, and technical assistance, to help data center owners and operators obtain clean and reliable energy solutions. The US Department of Energy also plans to hold a series of meetings with data center developers, clean energy solution providers, grid operators, and other stakeholders to drive the development of innovative solutions.
The US Department of Energy will continue to share resources with data center developers to repurpose closed coal sites. Retired and soon to be retired coal sites provide a unique opportunity to rebuild energy infrastructure that can power new data centers. The existing land and facilities on the power plant site can be reused, such as the power infrastructure used to connect to the grid. Combining on-site features with financial incentives provided by federal, state, and local authorities can create attractive opportunities for project developers.
In addition, the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) will identify licenses nationwide that can help accelerate the construction of eligible artificial intelligence data centers and share this information with AI data center developers to accelerate the construction of critical projects.
Huang Renxun's latest statement
After the above meeting, NVIDIA CEO Huang Renxun said in an interview with foreign media, "We are at the beginning of a new industrial revolution. This industry will create intelligence, which requires energy... Therefore, we need to ensure that everyone can understand the future needs, opportunities, and challenges, and achieve them in the most effective and scalable way
Huang Renxun added that given the rapid growth rate of the AI (artificial intelligence) industry, it is likely that government enterprise (public-private) cooperation is needed in this field. He also revealed that Nvidia is launching full-scale production of its latest AI chip, Blackwell.
On September 11th, local time, during an interview at the Goldman Sachs CommunacopiaTech conference, Huang Renxun said, "NVIDIA is currently collaborating with all data centers in the world. I can't find a data center, cloud service provider, or computer manufacturer that we haven't worked with yet. So, this means we have a huge responsibility. Many people rely on us and have high expectations for us. Therefore, today we may have more emotionally invested customers who really need our products and are in high spirits. We can feel that everyone is waiting for us to meet their needs
Huang Renxun emphasized again that Nvidia will mass produce its latest chip Blackwell and expand production capacity in the fourth quarter of this year, and continue to expand production next year. He said, "The demand for Blackwell is simply too high. Everyone wants to be the first company to own it, to have the most production capacity, and to be ahead. Our customers are quite excited, which is natural and indeed very tight. We are doing our best to do our best." Huang Renxun also said that Nvidia is highly dependent on TSMC's OEM and will transfer the production of artificial intelligence chips to other foundries if necessary.
Minsheng Securities stated that Huang Renxun's speech at the CommunacopiaTech conference demonstrated Nvidia's strong confidence in computing power demand, and the company stated that Blackwell products are progressing smoothly and will be shipped in the fourth quarter; In addition, the August US CPI data slightly exceeded expectations, reducing the possibility of a significant interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve. Driven by AI, data center related industries are still the main driving force for the growth of the PCB and copper interconnect industries.
OpenAI valuation skyrockets
After the meeting convened by the White House, a spokesperson for OpenAI stated that the company believes that building additional AI infrastructure in the United States will have a significant impact on the country's industrial policies and economic future: "We appreciate the White House's convening of this meeting, which demonstrates the importance of infrastructure being built in creating job opportunities, ensuring the broad benefits of AI, and ensuring that the United States continues to be at the forefront of AI innovation
According to informed sources, OpenAI has shared its analysis of the economic impact of AI with officials in the Biden administration, including the estimated impact on employment and GDP of building large data centers in various states in the United States, such as Wisconsin, California, Texas, and Pennsylvania.
In addition, several foreign media outlets recently reported that OpenAI is in talks to raise $6.5 billion from investors at a valuation of $150 billion. The new valuation does not include the funds being raised and is already much higher than the $86 billion valuation the company offered for earlier this year, consolidating its position as one of the world's most valuable startups.
According to reports, the latest round of financing is led by Xingsheng Capital in the United States, with Apple, Nvidia, and Microsoft also participating in the negotiations. Once the aforementioned financing is completed, OpenAI's valuation will surpass SpaceX, the space exploration technology company led by renowned American entrepreneur Elon Musk.