CES2026: On AI and Energy, It's Nevada vs. Alaska
Two American frontier governors highlight energy, business climates and federal land control as a strategic advantage.
LAS VEGAS, Jan. 9, 2026 — Nevada and Alaska’s governors on Thursday outlined how their states were positioning themselves for investment tied to artificial intelligence, data centers, and energy-intensive industries. They emphasized permitting timelines, land access, and long-term power availability as key determinants of competitiveness.
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Speaking during a CES panel on Thursday, Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo (R) said the state is reducing its dependence on gaming revenue, which he said once dominated state finances and left Nevada constrained as casino development proliferated nationwide.
Lombardo said Nevada now marketed itself around regulatory simplicity, a stable tax environment, and workforce alignment aimed at logistics, manufacturing, and technology investment.
Lombardo said permitting speed and predictability had become decisive factors for businesses siting major projects. About 80 percent of Nevada’s land is federally controlled, he noted, making federal permitting timelines central to energy and infrastructure development.
Solar generation supplies roughly 50 percent of Nevada’s electricity, much of it on federal land, and Lombardo said the state was negotiating with the Trump administration over solar policy amid federal pullbacks, to match the state’s data center capacity as power demand grows.
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R) presented a different case, centering his argument on scale, natural resources, and organized labor. He said about 60 percent of Alaska is federally controlled, and cited the state’s 65 percent share of the nation’s wetlands, more than 50 percent of the country’s freshwater, and large contiguous land areas as structural advantages unavailable elsewhere.
Alaska also has more than 150 volcanoes, which Dunleavy said offered long-term potential for the geothermal industry .
Dunleavy said Alaska’s economic trajectory had been constrained by federal permitting and regulatory actions, even though the state was once a major oil and gas producer. He pointed to a proposed 800-mile natural gas pipeline, designed to move gas to tidewater for export, with a projected capacity of 20 million tons per year and throughput of about 4.2 billion cubic feet per day.
Dunleavy said the project could support long-duration electricity for data centers, industrial facilities, and energy-intensive uses such as cryptocurrency mining.
On labor, Dunleavy said Alaska remained highly unionized - third highest by state - and argued that organized labor played a role in maintaining wage standards as automation and artificial intelligence expanded. He said the state faced demographic decline and shortages of skilled trades, including pipefitters and truck drivers, making workforce development as critical as capital investment.
Both governors said businesses were prioritizing energy cost, reliability, and regulatory certainty over incentives, with Lombardo emphasizing speed and predictability and Dunleavy emphasizing scale, power availability, and labor capacity.
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