US government signs executive order for gigawatt-scale data center campus development on federal lands

Outgoing US President Joe Biden has signed an executive order to open up federal lands for data center development. This will make government-owned land available to developers for lease and require agencies to make efforts to improve transmission infrastructure to those developments.

“Today, President Biden issued an executive order to secure American leadership in artificial intelligence (AI) and ensure that the infrastructure needed for advanced AI operations—including large-scale data centers and new clean power infrastructure—can be built with speed and scale here in the United States,” the White House announced today.

Sites owned by the Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of Energy (DOE) will be made available for lease to developers for gigawatt-scale AI data center campuses. Developers selected to build on these sites will be required to bring online sufficient clean energy generation resources to match the full electricity needs of their data centers. The Department of the Interior will identify lands it manages that are suitable for clean energy and can support data centers on DOE and DoD sites, while enhancing permitting processes for geothermal projects.

“The executive order announced today will ensure the United States has the infrastructure — including large-scale data centers and clean power facilities — necessary to maintain America’s competitive advantage and safeguard our national security interests,” Vice President Kamala Harris said. “By activating the full force of the federal government to speed up and scale AI operations here in the United States, we are securing our global leadership on AI, which will have a profound impact on our economy, society, and national security for generations to come.”