NTIA Seeking Comment on Bolstering Data Center Infrastructure

WASHINGTON, September 4, 2024 – The White House is looking for input on how federal policy can support U.S. data centers as artificial intelligence continues to fuel demand.

“Data centers are not new. But the way we’re using them is,” said National Telecommunications and Information Administration Administrator Alan Davidson. “Even before artificial intelligence supercharged demand, data centers had become a linchpin of our digital economy.”

Davidson, who spoke at a Center for Strategic and International Studies event on data center growth, is principally responsible by law for advising President Biden on telecommunications and information policy issues.

In a request for comment released Wednesday, the NTIA cited a report that found data centers consumed a full four percent of the nation’s electricity output in 2022 and estimated the number could grow to nine percent by 2030. The projected growth is largely due to demand for training machine learning models, which can require vast amounts of data.

The agency is interested in hearing from data center operators on challenges to the industry’s growth and how NTIA and other federal policy makers might mitigate them. Access to necessary power and water are key concerns, but the White House’s top telecom advisor also asked for feedback on workforce availability, data security challenges, permitting challenges and land availability, and the resilience of supply chains.

In sum, NTIA wrote that it’s looking for “opportunities to collaborate on public and private sector measures (e.g., infrastructure investments, workforce development programs) to catalyze data center growth, enable innovation, and foster economic development and global market leadership.”

The Department of Energy is working with NTIA on the effort, and an official said the agency will be “looking carefully” at responses to craft future policies.

“We’re really looking for input at this moment in time where we’re seeing such growth and expansion and opportunity,” said Carla Frisch, the DOE’s acting executive director.

Comments are due at NTIA within the next 60 days.