America’s AI race success depends on winning the energy race first: expert

America’s ability to compete in the global AI race may depend less on computing power and more on the energy needed to support it.

“The AI ​​race is definitely a power race, and one of the things we’ve said is that in order to win the AI ​​race, you have to win the power race,” Nathan Lord, president of the nonprofit Shale Crescent USA, told FOX Business. “But the only way to win the power race is if you prioritize reliable fuel supplies.”

Electricity demand from data centers could account for up to half of all new energy consumption in the United States between now and 2030, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Natural gas is expected to meet 60% of energy demand growth driven by artificial intelligence and data centers, Goldman Sachs reported in April.

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“Natural gas is the only fuel that can be deployed quickly enough, scale enough, and still be affordable to become a viable option for data centers,” Lord said.

For years, data centers have typically been built close to fiber hubs, but Lord believes this needs to change.

“We’ve spent the last decade building where there’s fiber and not where there’s power, and that presents a lot of problems,” he said. “… What we are communicating with energy-intensive data centers is the safest and most reliable place to have them be on top of a natural gas supply, not to build them 500 miles away or parts of the United States where there is no power.”

Nearly 80% of America’s natural gas supply comes from the Texas Gulf Coast and the Shale Crescent region — which includes Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania — where Shale Crescent USA supports high-wage manufacturing industries, according to Lord.

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File photo: Photo of a natural gas well in rural Pennsylvania. (Istock)

“Shale Crescent is uniquely equipped to be a solution to the upcoming data center demand,” he said.

Chevron is among the companies preparing for this transformation.

The company announced earlier this year that it would work with Engine No. 1 and Chevron USA Inc. To create a new venture focused on developing natural gas-powered power solutions for data centers.

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File photo: The data center is pictured here. (iStock/iStock)

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At the same time, China has dramatically expanded its energy production. Lord said the country now produces 2.5 times as much energy as the United States, although it surpassed America just 15 years ago.

He said: “America cannot outperform China in the field of artificial intelligence if China outperforms us in power, so the United States must give priority to developing a reliable force.”