ITI to DOE: AI Infrastructure is Critical for U.S. Technological Leadership
WASHINGTON – Today, global tech trade association ITI outlined how the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) can leverage private sector innovation to foster more effective public-private partnerships, help facilitate the rapid data center development needed to maintain U.S. AI leadership, and reduce barriers to domestic energy infrastructure development.
In response to DOE’s Request for Information (RFI) on Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure on DOE Lands, ITI emphasized the important role resilient, energy-efficient data centers and streamlined permitting play in securing U.S. national security and competitiveness.
“With both the public and private sector seeking to rapidly develop and adopt emerging technologies, such as AI, existing infrastructure will not support the increased demand for energy needed to power this nascent technology long-term. If the U.S. is to maintain its position as the global leader in AI development, it must plan for and appropriately invest in solutions that can address the urgent need for reliable and resilient infrastructure, such as data centers, that are powering modern technologies,” ITI wrote in its comments.
“The rapid growth in demand for energy infrastructure will require an ambitious federal response in close coordination with state and local governments. Effective collaboration across all levels of government can help to ensure public-private partnerships are successful and that these projects can adopt private sector innovations with the urgency required to advance U.S. leadership in AI. Partnerships between the federal government and state and local governments can help fast track the development of alternative sources of energy,” ITI continued.
To accelerate critical energy infrastructure development, ITI’s submission supports:
- Defining the purpose of the data center with sufficient flexibility to avoid limiting future innovation;
- Addressing slow, complex permitting processes and a lack of streamlined regulations;
- Enhancing efforts to leverage private sector innovation and existing technologies to bolster the ability of next-generation technology, such as AI, to drive efficiency within data centers;
- Incentivizing companies to invest in AI talent development, and facilitate collaboration between academia, industry, and government to create a robust AI talent pipeline; and
- Supporting policies that de-risk private investment in advanced technologies.
Read ITI’s full submission here.