Illustration: Lindsey Bailey/Axios
The U.S. should invest in energy dominance to beat China and set global standards to ensure leadership in AI, per a TechNet letter to the House AI and Energy working group shared exclusively with Axios.
Why it matters: TechNet's highly influential membership of tech CEOs usually has congressional leadership's ear on consequential tech bills.
What's inside: TechNet urges the House AI and Energy working group to focus on the following:
- Have Congress streamline NEPA requirements and fast-track permitting for new energy projects, including data centers and other infrastructure.
- Reinstate permanent tax provisions that "reduce the capital burden for infrastructure developers" along with the development of "AI Economic Zones" with incentives for creating AI research hubs.
- Grid modernization via comprehensive permitting reform.
- Outpacing China via heavy investment and low regulatory barriers in the U.S., along with setting global standards and pushing back against "harmful and overreaching regulations" abroad.
What they're saying: "The government and private sector must work together to advance a national policy agenda that secures American energy dominance and supports the construction of data and power infrastructure at a pace that allows U.S. innovation to move forward unimpeded," Linda Moore, CEO of TechNet, said in statement.
- "Speed and scale are the keys to maintaining America's technological advantage and positioning the U.S. to outcompete China and other authoritarian regimes in the AI era."
