The Tamesis
Japanese investment giant SoftBank Group is planning to build a large gas-fired power plant in the United States aimed at meeting the growing power needs of artificial intelligence data centers.
Gas plants part of Japan’s commitment Invest $550 billion Tokyo agreed to a deal with the United States in exchange for lower trade tariffs.
SoftBank said on Saturday that the “massive” $33.3 billion power plant with a generating capacity of 9.2 gigawatts (GW) will be built in Ohio.
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“I think this is larger than any power plant in the world,” SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son said at a ceremony in Ohio announcing the project.
“At least in the United States, that’s certainly the largest amount of electricity generation in one place,” he added.
Son said our goal is to develop “the smartest intelligence in the world.”
Tech investor SoftBank is a major backer of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, and Son is a long-time ally of U.S. President Donald Trump.
The 9.2-gigawatt gas-fired power plant is part of a master plan to power 10 gigawatts of data center capacity at the site, the U.S. Department of Energy said in a statement.
“Once a cornerstone of U.S. national security during the Cold War – enriching uranium for our nation’s defense – the Portsmouth site is now being transformed to help the United States win the race for artificial intelligence,” it said.
Data center proliferation
SoftBank also announced Saturday that a consortium with major U.S. and Japanese companies will help build a factory and develop artificial intelligence infrastructure in Ohio.
Data centers that can train and run chatbots, image generators and other artificial intelligence tools are being built on a massive scale around the world as the investment boom in the rapidly evolving technology shows no signs of slowing down.
A study last month found that industrial investment will surge by nearly a third in 2025, helped by massive U.S. investment in artificial intelligence and data centers.
But construction of natural gas power plants is also likely to increase huge carbon emissions Related to the rise of artificial intelligence and data centers.
Scientists say rising emissions are fueling rising global temperatures that could transform the planet Entering the “Hell Greenhouse”.
While some companies are embracing greener data centers, experts say data centers run on clean energy still a difficult task because of their needs A lot stable energy.
- AFP, with additional editing and input by Vishakha Saxena
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