President Trump’s $92-billion AI initiative, aimed at turning Pennsylvania into the beating heart of U.S. artificial intelligence, is generating headlines for its impact on semiconductors and tech giants.
But if you follow the money — and the power lines — the biggest winners of this plan may be energy companies.
AI data centers are ravenous for electricity. And if Pennsylvania is about to become an AI hub, its power grid will need a historic upgrade.
That’s already underway.
Several major joint announcements coincided with the White House’s rollout, pointing to billions in fresh energy investment:
- Blackstone unveiled a $25 billion plan to build data center and energy infrastructure in Northeast Pennsylvania, including a joint venture with PPL Corporation for power generation.
- Google (GOOGL) struck a new 20-year deal with Brookfield Renewable (BEPC) to repower two hydropower facilities, generating 670 megawatts of clean electricity. Brookfield’s stock jumped 10.4% last week.
- FirstEnergy is investing $15 billion to expand and modernize grid infrastructure across 56 of the state’s 67 counties. CEO Brian Tierney called it essential for “AI development, shale gas, and any other form of technological progress.”
- Westinghouse Electric, backed by Cameco (CCJ), said it aims to have 10 large-scale nuclear reactors under construction by 2030. Cameco stock gained 8.6% last week.
- GE Vernova (GEV) is putting up to $100 million into its Pennsylvania operations. Shares rose 6.6%.
- AI compute firm CoreWeave (CRWV) announced a $6 billion project to develop a 300-megawatt data center in Lancaster, further fueling demand.
AI’s power appetite is just getting started ⚙️
Goldman Sachs Research estimates global data center power demand will surge 50% by 2027 and skyrocket 165% by 2030.
In the U.S., that translates to massive strain on the grid.
According to a 2023 Department of Energy report, data centers already account for 4.4% of all U.S. electricity use. By 2028, that figure could rise as high as 12%.
Total electricity usage from data centers has already tripled over the past decade, climbing from 58 TWh in 2014 to 176 TWh in 2023. The DOE expects it to soar to as much as 580 TWh by 2028.
And most of that growth will happen right here.
The U.S. currently hosts about 60% of the world’s installed data center capacity, according to BCG. Based on announced builds, the U.S. will also drive the majority of data center power demand growth through 2028.
The bottom line is that while chipmakers may power the AI brains, it’s the energy sector that’s about to power everything else.
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