AI is no longer emerging technology. It is here, and it becomes the foundation of modern civilization. Just as electricity transformed the 20th century and the Internet transformed the 21st, the AI reshaped the way we work, govern and live. Soon, each great institution, from hospitals to soldiers, will integrate AI into their main operations, increasing the challenges of the infrastructure that underpins it.
Despite this demand, our infrastructure does not follow the pace. In 2024, American data centers used approximately 200 electricity terawatt hours, enough to supply Thailand for a year. The same estimate argues that by 2028, the AI power consumption should reach between 165 and 326 terawatt hours per year, enough to feed 22% of American households. The workloads of the AI push the energy and calculate the systems far beyond their limits, creating an exponential demand which leaves our electrical network in the way while it fights to evolve even gradually.
This discrepancy is more than a technical problem. As the demand for AI increases, these bottlenecks in the national energy supply and access to calculations will slow development in all the sector, which limits its transformer potential.
The United States runs for the moment. But we are in a sprint and China is gaining ground. Their Deepseek R1 model competes with high -level American models. Deepseek’s success proves that speed, scale and efficiency can radically change the balance of the world power of AI. The AI push in China is well funded, coordinated and strategic. If Deepseek is an indication of the momentum of China, we are far behind them.
It doesn’t matter who leads to algorithms if the United States continues to treat infrastructure as a reflection after the fact, because we are on the right track to lose the war of the platform. The future of AI must be built on freedom, transparency and confidence, not surveillance and control. It is the edge of America – and to that, we must prioritize the energy crisis it creates.
In this context, the massive centralized data centers are obsolete. They are rigid, expensive and confined to a single geographical location. Worse, they create unique failures. If an electrical network decreases or is overheated, an entire segment of the country is immersed in a technological dark age.
On the other hand, decentralized systems release our potential, allowing American innovation to evolve with agility. Smaller calculation clusters can execute almost localized renewable sources, such as solar, wind or geothermal energy, or take advantage of the computing power underused in houses, campuses and communities. Decentralized systems also better position American technology to survive in a world where threats are moving more and more in the digital space. In times of crisis, or cyber attacks of harmful actors, the distribution of calculation on individual nodes ensures continuity, while centralized systems collapse.
The way to follow
So what is the way to follow?
We start by encouraging distributed infrastructure, which makes it easier and more profitable to build beyond hyperscal installations. We finance federal research and development for distributed IT to accelerate innovation in the public and private sectors. To host the edge calculation powered by local clean energy, we open land and federal institutions. And finally, we rationalize support for new generation energy sources such as advanced nuclear networks, so that the future network can correspond to the volume of EIA energy demand.
Thanks to this approach, we reduce license delays and release the latent value in the underused assets of our country, from rural substations to incarcerated industrial zones. Our energy crisis cannot be resolved with a single solution. But taken together, these steps serve as a resilient model so that America directs in the development of AI.
This change is much more than repairing our energy bottleneck – it reshapes access. The developers can build independently of Big Tech without a calculation begging. These infrastructure policies would level the field so that small players can build and deploy advanced AI models, decentralize the opportunity itself.
The AI should shape each company and sector it affects. But in the end, the one who controls the Foundation will determine which values will guide this result. We can let foreign powers consolidate this foundation, going beyond our capacities to strengthen and anchor centralization, surveillance and control. Or we can take advantage of America’s Edge and develop our infrastructure at the rate with which energy requires guaranteeing resilience, transparency and freedom.
If the United States wants to lead in AI, we must act decisively. We cannot rely on inherited systems or the Léthargic bureaucracy. We don’t need more studies or panels. If we want to define the future on our conditions, we must build and we must build now.
Let’s go to work.
