Biden Signs Executive Order on Data Center Construction and Power Supply 확보

U.S. President Joe Biden, who is nearing the end of his term, signed an executive order to accelerate the construction of artificial intelligence (AI) data centers and address the resulting surge in power shortages.

According to foreign media including the AP News, on the 14th (local time), President Biden signed an executive order directing the administration to assist companies in building AI data centers and clean energy infrastructure through leasing federal government land. President Biden instructed the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy to select federal government sites that can be leased to companies for data center construction, and directed the Department of the Interior to identify lands that can be used for building clean energy infrastructure to support data center power needs.

President Biden plans to expedite permits for these sites and assist with the construction of transmission lines and grid connections. In a statement, President Biden said, "(This executive order) will accelerate the pace of building next-generation AI infrastructure in the United States, strengthening competitiveness, national security, AI safety, and clean energy."

The purpose is for the government to help the U.S. AI industry continuously train powerful AI models. As AI models process sophisticated data beyond text?such as images, voice, and video?the demand for data centers is increasing. At the same time, there is a need to prepare for the power consumption caused by data centers. According to a report released last month by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory under the U.S. Department of Energy, the power consumption of AI data centers in the U.S. is expected to triple by 2028. This would account for up to 12% of the total U.S. power consumption.

However, the executive order does not include measures to address the massive water consumption caused by data center operations. Data centers use enormous amounts of water to cool computer equipment. According to the research group Dgtl Infrastructure, water consumption by data centers in the U.S. in 2023 was 7.5 billion gallons. The American Water Works Association stated, "In states with data centers, concerns are growing about how to balance the economic development brought by data centers with their impact on water resources."

The AP News predicted that this executive order, which focuses on supplying data center power through clean energy sources such as wind and solar power, could be rescinded by a second Trump administration. During his candidacy, Donald Trump criticized the Biden administration’s green policies as a "Green New Scam" (an environmental pretense for fraud).