PITTSBURGH: US President Donald Trump will join executives from leading technology and energy firms at a high-profile summit in Pittsburgh on Tuesday (Jul 15), as the White House accelerates plans to boost artificial intelligence (AI) and expand data centre infrastructure.
The Energy and Innovation Summit, held at Carnegie Mellon University, brings together top officials from Meta, Microsoft, Alphabet, ExxonMobil and others, amid intensifying global competition with China over AI dominance.
ANNOUNCEMENT OF US$90 BILLION IN AI AND ENERGY INVESTMENTS
Trump is expected to announce some US$90 billion in AI and energy investments in Pennsylvania during the event, which was organized by US Senator Dave McCormick, a key Republican ally. The president will unveil commitments from major corporations including Google, CoreWeave, and Blackstone.
McCormick told attendees the stakes “couldn’t be higher”, warning that if the US failed to lead in AI, it could cede control over infrastructure and technology to Beijing. “We will hand control of our infrastructure, our data, our leadership and our way of life to the Chinese Communist Party,” he said.
BIG TECH STRUGGLES TO MEET AI ENERGY NEEDS
Amid soaring demand, Big Tech companies are racing to secure enough power to run energy-intensive data centres. Google announced a US$3 billion deal to acquire up to 3 gigawatts of hydropower from Brookfield Asset Management. The 20-year power purchase agreements will support electricity generation at two facilities in Pennsylvania.
Cloud service provider CoreWeave also announced plans for a US$6 billion AI data centre, while asset manager Blackstone committed US$25 billion to building data centres and energy infrastructure across the state.
Other executives in attendance include Mubadala CEO Khaldoon Al-Mubarak, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods, Bechtel CEO Brendan Bechtel and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei.
