Can the United States build enough power infrastructure to sustain the AI boom? Serguei Netessine, Wharton&#x27;s Senior Vice Dean for Innovation and Global Initiatives, examines the unprecedented electricity demand created by AI data centers and hyperscalers. He explains how rapid growth in computing power is testing an aging grid, reshaping infrastructure investment, and raising urgent questions about energy policy. Netessine also explores the potential role of energy storage, flexible computing, utility regulation, and industrial electricity pricing. He considers what happens when data centers build their own power supply and why coordinated action is essential for the United States to remain competitive in AI. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The AI Boom Is Testing America's Power Grid

Ripple Effect

We are kind of in a critical point where something has got to happen because, you know, many AI companies, high-tech companies are beginning to say, hey, I don't even want to be connected to the grid. It's too complicated, too long. I'm just going to build my own supply, my own electrical power.

Welcome to The Ripple Effect, the podcast that takes you on a journey through the minds of Wharton faculty. I'm your host, Dan Loney, and in each episode, we'll be diving deep into the inspiration behind the groundbreaking research that Wharton professors have conducted and exploring how their findings resonate with the world today. There are so many questions around artificial intelligence these days. Obviously, the build-out is one of them, but there is also an environmental component to this as well.

Recently, the Wharton School hosted a webinar to discuss many of these topics, and one of the experts involved in that webinar joins us right now, Wharton professor Sergei Netasin. Sergei, great to talk to you again. How are you, sir? Very good. Thank you for having me again, Dan.

Sports is a game of numbers, but what do the numbers actually tell us? On Wharton Moneyball, we use data and analytics to tackle the biggest questions in sports. Listen to Moneyball from the Wharton Podcast Network. I guess let's start with the importance of talking about all of these different topics right now.

Well, I think what's kind of unprecedented is the scale of build-out of AI data centers and hyperscalers that we are experiencing. And usually when there is a revolution in software, and usually we perceive AI as kind of a revolution in software, it's kind of a digital world.

The AI Boom Is Testing America's Power Grid

Read the full transcript

The candid version is on a podcast,
not the earnings call.

The AI Boom Is Testing America's Power Grid

Read the full transcript

The candid version is on a podcast, not the earnings call.

The candid version is on a podcast,
not the earnings call.