The White House recently hosted a meeting attended by many prominent names in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

After the meeting, ChatGPT's "father" shared documents with government officials, outlining some of the economic and national security benefits of building 5 GW capacity data centers in different US states.

According to Bloomberg , 5GW is equivalent to five nuclear reactors, or enough to power nearly 3 million homes.

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Inside a Microsoft data center. Photo: Microsoft

Investing in such massive data centers would create tens of thousands of new jobs, boost gross domestic product, and ensure the US can maintain its leadership in AI development, according to OpenAI.

To achieve this, however, the US needs greater data center support policies.

This year, Altman has spent much of his time forming a coalition of global investors to fund the infrastructure needed to support rapid AI development, while also working to get the project approved by the US government.

Responding to Bloomberg , an OpenAI spokesperson said the company believes AI infrastructure is critical for the US to lead innovation, promote re-industrialization across the country, and for everyone to access the benefits of AI.

Energy industry leaders point out that powering even a single 5GW data center is a challenge.

The total capacity of nuclear reactors in the US is nearly 96GW. Last week, Microsoft signed a deal with Constellation to supply nuclear power to the software company for two decades.

In June, John Ketchum, CEO of NextEra Energy, said the clean energy giant had received inquiries from a number of technology companies looking for sites that could support 5GW of demand, but he did not name any specific companies. According to him, 5GW is equivalent to powering the entire city of Miami.

It requires a combination of wind and solar, energy storage and grid connectivity. Finding a location that can accommodate 5GW will take some time, but the US has places suitable for 1GW.

(According to Bloomberg)