For nearly 250 years, American ingenuity has shaped the future. AI is no exception. It’s helping businesses and governments unlock competitive advantage through faster insights and smarter decisions. But to fully realize AI’s potential, we must invest in three foundational pillars: modern data centers, a modern grid and modern regulation.
Permitting That Champions Modernization
Demand for data centers is surging, with occupancy rates projected to hit 95 percent by 2026 and power demand rising 165 percent by 2030. Eighty-five percent of enterprises plan to move GenAI on-premises within two years. Yet, permitting delays and regulatory complexity often stretches timelines to seven years from planning to operation. That’s a missed opportunity to align infrastructure with innovation and accelerate U.S. AI leadership.
To seize AI’s promise, policymakers must build on the White House AI Action Plan and proposals like Senator Ted Cruz’s SANDBOX Act. Energy Secretary Chris Wright recently urged the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to consider new permitting rules for data centers. Swift implementation of President Donald Trump’s AI infrastructure executive order is also key to fostering public-private collaboration. This should focus on streamlining permitting, incentivizing energy-efficient design, and expanding workforce development for data center construction and operations.
Maintaining U.S. AI leadership means harmonizing federal, state and local permitting processes—removing bottlenecks while ensuring community engagement. Recent executive orders and EPA guidance on New Source Review (NSR) permitting are steps in the right direction. Bipartisan efforts like the SPEED Act and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) modernization can further reduce red tape, curb frivolous litigation and accelerate critical infrastructure.
From Energy Bottleneck to Energy Optimization
AI’s energy demands are significant. The International Energy Agency (IEA) projects data centers will consume as much electricity as Japan by 2030. Private sector innovation is helping advanced cooling systems, efficient hardware, and smarter workload management are driving progress. Stanford’s 2025 AI Index Report shows energy efficiency improving 40 percent annually between 2022 and 2024.
Technology alone isn’t enough. Policy must keep pace. Bipartisan bills like the Liquid Cooling for AI Act and the Unleashing Low-Cost Rural AI Act promote best practices and enable co-location of data centers with energy facilities. The Department of Energy’s grid modernization efforts and calls to align federal R&D with mission-driven AI are other positive steps to bring policy up to speed.
But these individual attempts must be part of a comprehensive strategy to accelerate transmission buildout, streamline multi-jurisdictional permitting, expand generation and scale demand-side flexibility. With proactive policy, the U.S. can meet AI’s energy needs and strengthen its global leadership.
Agile Policy Without Regulatory Drag
In a world where tech cycles move in months, not years, rigid policy is a barrier. Washington must match AI’s pace while planning for the long-term. That means flexible, fast, pro-growth frameworks that clear bottlenecks, reduce uncertainty and unlock private capital.
The White House’s push to streamline approvals and boost tech exports is a strong start. Public-private partnerships can accelerate deployment of next-gen solutions from lab to real-world scale. Regulatory sandboxes offer controlled environments to test and validate AI, supporting responsible development, attracting investment and speeding adoption.
The decisions made today will shape America’s AI future. The stakes are national security and economic leadership. Cut red tape. Speed interconnections. Create a stable, predictable environment. With government and industry working together, the U.S. can build the secure, efficient data center capacity that unlocks AI’s full potential—and lead the world for decades to come.
Nicole “Nic” Jefferson is vice president of Dell Technologies’ government affairs for North America, LatAm and APJ. She leads a team educating global policymakers on the importance of technology infrastructure modernization, including the opportunities and challenges lawmakers need to consider when developing policies.
The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.
