Tech companies and investors will devote more than $90 billion to AI and energy infrastructure investments in Pennsylvania, President Donald Trump and Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.) announced today at the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit held in Pittsburgh.
“Remaining the world’s leader in AI will require an enormous increase in energy production, and that’s taking place,” Trump said.
The recurring theme at the panels was that American dominance in AI – in particular in opposition to China – will require a more robust energy grid than the US currently possesses. Speakers supported expanding coal, oil, nuclear, and natural gas operations as well as, in some cases, renewable energy sources.
Trump added, “Today’s commitments are ensuring that the future is going to be designed, built, and made right here in Pennsylvania and right here in Pittsburgh and, I have to say, right here in the United States of America.”
The summit included Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, White House AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks, Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman, and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei.
Google and Meta are among the contributors to Pennsylvania projects
Big tech represented a portion of the total investments.
Google announced its part in the AI and energy infrastructure investment initiative relatively early. The tech giant will pour $25 billion into data centers and artificial intelligence infrastructure in the large PJM electric grid. Google will also contribute $3 billion to modernize two hydropower plants in Pennsylvania.
Major AI company Anthropic announced it would devote $1 million over three years to Carnegie Mellon University for its energy program. The company will provide an additional $1 million over three years to support the PicoCTF program, a cybersecurity education initiative affiliated with the university.
Meta plans to invest $2.5 million in rural Pennsylvania startups and provide community accelerator training for small businesses through a partnership program with Carnegie Mellon University.
In addition, CoreWeave will devote $6 billion to a new data center in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
The total investments include more than $56 billion in new energy infrastructure and more than $36 billion in new data center projects, with more announcements forthcoming, according to Trump.
AI may be ‘the most important intellectual development of our time,’ says university president
The speakers linked advancements in tech with economic prosperity, including the creation of new jobs in technology and in the trades.
“We are in the midst of a sweeping technological transformation, driven, of course, by advances that we all see,” said Farnam Jahanian, president of Carnegie Mellon University, in his opening remarks. “In particular, the growing power of artificial intelligence, perhaps it’s the most important intellectual development of our time, with profound impacts on every sector of our economy and broad implications for our labor market, workforce, and way of life.”
Burgum, in particular, framed AI as key to national defense. “Defense doesn’t exist without AI in the future, and so whether it’s national security, whether it’s economic leadership, AI matters,” he said.
“China and other countries are racing to catch up to America having to do with AI, and we’re not going to let them do it,” Trump said. “We have the great chips, we have the great everything, and we’re going to be fighting them in a very friendly fashion.”
Trump attributed some of China’s technological success to its use of coal.
Bargum chairs Trump’s National Energy Dominance Council, which was created in February to increase the amount of energy generated within the country.
“We have the greatest brains, we have the greatest power, and we are going to have more electric,” Trump said.
Some of that electricity will be produced privately, not on the public grid, he added.
Among the National Energy Dominance Council’s initiatives are eliminating regulations that previously stood in the way of energy resources. That includes resources such as coal, which contribute to pollution and greenhouse gases.
“The biggest problem we’ve had is it takes years and years to get permits,” Trump said.
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang spoke in support of reshoring American manufacturing on Sunday.
