AI Infrastructure in White House Midnight Rulemaking

The Biden Administration is aiming to make its final marks on AI policy and guidance. Executive agencies are busy publishing playbooks (see DHS playbook on generative AI and CISA playbook on AI cyber collaboration) and regulations (see Commerce export controls on computing chips and AI model weights) on the technology. Yesterday, the White House released an executive order to boost the building of AI infrastructure.

The Executive Order on Advancing U.S. Leadership in Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure provides a framework to utilize private sector help to build and operate AI infrastructure and surrounding power resources in the U.S., in turn bolstering innovation of the transformative technology. Specifically, the executive order (EO) provides direction to federal departments to lease land for the construction and operation of frontier AI data centers, standing on clean energy technologies, and with little effect on U.S. electricity prices

The EO’s requirements are founded on five principles in which the development of AI infrastructure should…

1. Advance U.S. national security and leadership in AI
2. Advance U.S. economic competitiveness
3. Allow the U.S. to lead the world in operating the next generation of AI data centers with clean power
4. Not raise energy costs for American consumers and businesses
5. Benefit those working to build the infrastructure

Section 4 of the EO outlines a timeline to build the infrastructure of frontier data centers. According to the document, a frontier AI data center refers to an “AI data center capable of being used to develop, within a reasonable time frame, an AI model with characteristics related either to performance or to the computational resources used in its development that approximately match or surpass the state of the art at the time of the AI model’s development.”

Key milestone due dates in the EO include:

• February 28, 2025: Energy and the DOD must identify at least 3 sites that would be suitable to lease to private entities for construction and operation of a frontier AI data center.
• March 15, 2025: Interior must identify sites managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to permit private entities to construct and operate additional clean energy facilities as a component of frontier AI infrastructure development.
• March 15, 2025: Interior must designate five regions of lands or subsurface areas as potential locations for geothermal power generation.
•  March 31, 2025: Interior must publicize the BLM sites available for lease for clean energy facilities.  
• March 31, 2025: Energy and the DOD must launch competitive public solicitations to lease federal land to construct frontier AI infrastructure.
• June 30, 2025: Federal departments must award winning proposals for lease of land.
• January 1, 2026: Construction must begin of frontier AI data centers.
• December 31, 2027: Commencement of full-capacity operation of the AI infrastructure.

The remainder of the EO is dedicated to the federal government’s role in supporting the build and operation of the AI infrastructure, including providing a report on the energy effects of AI data centers, accelerating and prioritizing processing of permits for federal sites associated with the cause, seeking opportunities to accelerate interconnection of federal sites at existing power plants, and ensuring adequate transmission infrastructure for designated federal sites.

According to a statement by President Biden on the EO, the guidance will establish, “Domestic data centers for training and operating powerful AI models [which] will help the United States facilitate AI’s safe and secure development, harness AI in service of national security, and prevent adversaries from accessing powerful systems to the detriment of our military and national-security. It will also help prevent America from growing dependent on other countries to access powerful AI tools.

The EO presents numerous opportunities for contractors, though to what extent, remains to be seen. The incoming Trump Administration has vowed to repeal the Biden Administration’s primary AI EO in favor of decreasing AI regulation and bolstering AI development. Fundamentals of this latest EO appear to be in line with the upcoming administration’s views, including building domestic technology infrastructure and helping to expand U.S. AI innovation. Thus, the Trump Administration may continue to move forward with the accelerated lease of federal lands for the purpose of building and prioritizing AI infrastructure. However, portions of the EO that pursue supporting clean energy technologies may be overturned. Regardless, this week’s EO is pivotal for contractors and should be monitored in the coming weeks and months.