OpenAI calls on U.S. to build 100 gigawatts of additional power-generating capacity per year, increase equivalent to 100 nuclear reactors yearly — says electricity is a 'strategic asset' in AI race against China

Off the back of its globe-spanning, near-trillion-dollar infrastructure project announcements, OpenAI is now calling on the US government to invest more heavily in power generation, according to CNBC. Describing electricity as a "strategic asset," as much as a public utility, OpenAI believes the US needs to build up to 100 gigawatts of additional power-generating capacity per year in order to power the AI race it's now entered in with China.

"There’s a need for urgent action to prevent the People’s Republic of China from pulling ahead in electricity generation," OpenAI warned in its blog post entitled, "Seizing the AI opportunity."

It highlights how China added 429 new gigawatts of power generation in 2024, while America only contributed some 51 gigawatts. This, OpenAI argues, is creating an "electron gap," which puts the leadership of the US in AI development at risk. Indeed, energy prices have been rising in recent months across the US due to AI energy usage, and that problem is only growing larger.

To counter this, OpenAI has made a new submission to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, urging it to perform several key steps:

• Strengthen America’s industrial base
• "Modernize regulations" to unlock more energy
• Encourage the adoption of AI in American education and workplaces
• Use AI systems in national security and government administrative settings

Ironically, for a missive largely discussing the fact that America has fallen behind its rivals in developing energy infrastructure, the summation of the submission doesn't touch much on how it might change that. There's a lot of talk about how the US could further adopt AI, and a vague idea of "modernizing regulations," to "unlock" energy, rather than building out what's needed to generate it.

The more detailed submission document talks a lot about speeding up permit and regulatory systems, "to allow simple AI infrastructure projects to skip the line." It also wants to see AI used in the approvals process for energy infrastructure projects, which it claims could further accelerate the Federal processes involved. It also alludes to leveraging emergency powers and accelerating environmental policy reviews by "considering the national security implications of AI infrastructure construction." Especially when being built on federal land.

What OpenAI doesn't discuss at all is how China achieved its incredible power-generating expansion, nor how the U.S. is already going in the wrong direction if it wants to compete. China has seen explosive growth in its solar sector, installing more solar panels in the first half of 2025 alone than the entire US solar capacity. If America wants to catch up and do so fast, it will need to mirror Chinese efforts in solar expansion.

The only real attempt the US has made to combat this lopsided investment into solar is to try to slow China down with tariffs, rather than rushing to catch up. Indeed, the Trump administration has made it harder to build solar and other renewable energy projects since its return to power this year.

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