US President Joe Biden signed an executive order that allows government agencies to lease federal land to private entities to accelerate the build out of AI data centres, in a move also aimed at strengthening national security.

He stated the order will ensure the US “has the infrastructure — including large-scale data centres and clean power facilities — necessary to maintain America’s competitive advantage and safeguard our national security interests”.

The executive order directs the US Department of Defense and the US Department of Energy to lease sites to host gigawatt-scale AI data centres.

Those agencies will pick the sites where private sector companies can locate their data centres as well as build clean energy facilities to meet capacity needs without driving up electricity costs.

Those locations will also need access to transmission infrastructure while minimising the impact on nearby communities, the environment and commercial resources.

After selecting the sites, the government agencies will conduct “competitive solicitations for proposals to lease these sites for building, owning, and operating large-scale AI infrastructure—all at private expense,” according to a Biden administration factsheet.

Companies that lease the federal land will be required to purchase an “appropriate share” of US-manufactured semiconductors and pay workers “prevailing wages”.

“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,” President Biden stated.

Biden actively pursued governmental policies around the use of AI and generative AI during his term as president, which includes prohibiting the sale of powerful chips to countries such as China and implementing guidelines for how it is used by companies like OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, and Microsoft

President-elect Donald Trump secured a $20 billion investment from United Arab Emirates-based property billionaire Hussain Sajwani to build data centres across the US.