Trump Order Accelerates AI Data Center Buildout, Slashes Regulations

President Donald Trump on 23 July signed an executive order titled “Accelerating Federal Permitting of Data Center Infrastructure,” launching what the White House calls America’s AI Action Plan. The directive aims to speed construction of high-capacity data centers needed for artificial-intelligence training and inference while stripping away what the administration described as burdensome development rules. Under the order, the Commerce Department is told to assemble loans, loan guarantees, grants, tax incentives and offtake agreements for “qualifying projects” — facilities that add more than 100 megawatts of new electrical load or involve at least $500 million in capital expenditures. Federal agencies must streamline permitting, create new categorical exclusions under the National Environmental Policy Act and open suitable Defense, Interior and Energy Department lands for data-center use. The Department of Energy has already identified four federal sites for possible development. The move forms part of a broader AI Action Plan containing more than 90 federal policy measures, including revocation of earlier clean-energy siting rules and the rollback of what the White House labeled “onerous” AI development regulations. Administration officials said the package is intended to keep the United States competitive in the global race for artificial-intelligence leadership, though international organizations such as the United Nations have urged Washington to pair rapid expansion with stronger global safeguards.