Kevin O’Leary, star of ‘Shark Tank,’ is warning that the US is falling behind China in the artificial intelligence (AI) race. This is due to US states slowing down data center production, which is necessary for the development of AI. Data centers are the hardware needed for the large amount of electricity and infrastructure required to improve response time and data storage.

China’s Advantage

China is focused on improving its power grid, which is necessary to support the massive electricity demands of running a data center. O’Leary noted that data centers can function using varied energy sources, including natural gas, nuclear power, solar, and battery power. China’s ability to construct data centers at a faster rate than the US is also a significant advantage.

President Donald Trump has pushed for new data center production, signing an executive order to reduce regulatory burdens that have been slowing down data center development. However, some liberals in Congress have been reluctant to support data center development, citing concerns about utility costs and environmental impact.

Economic Implications

Experts tie data center production to economic gains, saying that the jobs created from the facilities benefit communities and local economies. Judge Glock, director of research at the Manhattan Institute, stated that ‘without continued growth in data centers, we would have higher unemployment and lower incomes.’ Data centers also bring significant gains to local communities.

The US currently has a higher number of functional data centers than China, with over 4,000 facilities compared to China’s 300. However, O’Leary warned that China could outpace the US in the long term if data center development is slowed down.

Original reporting: Fox News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.