Why is it said that the 'end point' of AI is energy?

But Elon Musk isn’t the only one pointing out that the U.S. is currently facing an energy crisis. If you read closely, even veteran investor Warren Buffett mentioned it in his 2023 letter to shareholders: while discussing Berkshire Hathaway Energy’s (BHE) disappointing earnings last year, he wrote, 'When all is said and done, U.S. electricity demand—and the associated capital expenditures—will be staggering. Neither I nor my two partners at BHE anticipated, or even considered, adverse regulatory developments regarding allowed returns. We made a costly mistake in this regard.' How much will U.S. electricity demand grow in the future? According to surveys conducted by utility companies, current U.S. electricity demand is likely still at a trough. Even so, growth over the past few years has been flat; yet the projected growth over the next five years has surged to 4.7%. U.S. electricity demand is suddenly surging for three main reasons. First, U.S.-China decoupling and the U.S. government’s push for manufacturing reshoring—for example, memory giant Micron’s plan to build a factory in northern New York State, whose power requirement alone equals the combined electricity consumption of neighboring New Hampshire and Vermont. Second, the growing adoption of electric vehicles and residential electric heating and cooling systems. And third—most importantly—the demand generated by AI or AI-driven data centers. A conventional data center consumes roughly 12 kilowatts of power, whereas an AI-training data center requires eight times as much. Over the next six years, U.S. data center electricity demand is projected to grow at over 15% annually—far outpacing GDP growth.

The U.S. is considering providing billions of dollars in financing for nuclear power plant components. What significance does this hold for global nuclear energy development?

It will likely prove highly problematic: the U.S. can no longer manufacture most of these large components domestically. For instance, the steam generators for the first six AP1000 reactors were supplied by Korea’s Doosan. Whether the U.S. can still produce reactor pressure vessels today remains uncertain. If such major components must be sourced from foreign manufacturers, this would directly conflict with various U.S. ‘Buy American’ provisions embedded in recent major legislation—which restrict public funding to purchases of U.S.-made goods. Domestic U.S. politics may therefore block such publicly funded financing.

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US to Lend $4.2 Billion to Vistra to Boost Nuclear Power Output, Source Says

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