US to hold 80 pc of global computing power: Scott Bessent

Asheville, Sep 1 (IANS) The United States will command about 80 per cent of global computing power by 2028 as it extends its lead in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said.

Speaking during a fireside conversation with Larry Kudlow in Asheville, North Carolina, Bessent described the US as the world’s AI superpower and said its share of global computing capacity was rising rapidly.

“We are going to go up from about, call it, 60% in 2025. By 2028, the US will have 80 per cent of global computing power here, which is just extraordinary,” Bessent said.

He linked the expansion to President Donald Trump’s regulatory, tax and energy policies, which he said had created greater certainty for businesses investing in factories, technology and infrastructure.

“The President’s policies have laid the groundwork for this economy,” Bessent said.

He said regulatory, tax and energy certainty were central to the administration’s economic programme. The United States was also benefiting from its position as a major energy producer and exporter, he added.

The Treasury Secretary said AI was moving beyond the technology sector and becoming part of manufacturing, pharmaceuticals and supply-chain management.

For the first time, private-sector representatives participated in a G20 session during the meetings in North Carolina, according to Bessent. They included executives from pharmaceutical and manufacturing companies.

“They talked about how they were integrating AI into them,” Bessent said. “And it was fascinating to see the ecosystems that are developing, the productivity, the higher level of precision manufacturing both across their supply chains and their customer bases.”

He said the transformation was still at an early stage and would contribute to employment and industrial expansion.

“I think that we’re just at the beginning of this,” Bessent said. “And this is, as you said, this is where the jobs are created.”

Bessent also pointed to a technology track being held in Chapel Hill by the Commerce Department and the White House technology office. The programme was showcasing American technology companies and the administration’s approach to private investment.

“We want to set the guardrails, create incentives, and then let our private sector build,” he said. “And that is where a nation’s wealth is created.”

The AI expansion is also contributing to construction activity through the development of data centres and related infrastructure. Bessent said construction unions had defended such projects against growing opposition.

“They said, ‘We will go after anyone who attacks these because these are great projects,’” he said.

Bessent described the wider US economy as resilient and said growth appeared to be gathering momentum despite uncertainty created by the Iran conflict.

“Growth, I believe, is re-accelerating,” he said. “Everyone agreed that growth has been better than they thought it would have been given the Iran conflict.”

Artificial intelligence systems rely on large data centres equipped with advanced semiconductors and extensive computing infrastructure. Their expansion has increased demand for electricity, specialised chips, construction and high-capacity transmission networks.

The United States is home to several of the world’s leading AI developers, semiconductor designers and cloud-computing companies. Washington has treated leadership in advanced computing as both an economic priority and a matter of national security.

–IANS

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