President Biden's executive order addresses the race to build domestic data centers and clean energy plants in order to retain America's AI leadership.

President Biden issued an executive order to permit data centers on federal lands in a move aimed at bolstering clean energy and protecting national security during a boom in artificial intelligence

President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Tuesday to provide federal support to address massive energy needs for fast-growing advanced artificial intelligence data centers, the White House said.

The government already leases federal lands for energy production, including fossil fuel exploration and renewable energy projects. Under the executive order, by February 28th, the Secretary of Defense and Secretary of Energy are supposed to find at least three sites each to host new AI data centers on land that their departments manage.

Key to the order is that the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy must each identify three suitable sites for so-called “frontier AI data centers” by early 2025.

The executive action will leverage federally protected lands to develop data centers capable of supporting AI software, with a priority on incorporating clean energy sources.