Kevin O'Leary wants to build a $30-40 billion data center in the U.S., calling compute power a national security issue. He says China is building faster.
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Kevin O'Leary wants to build a massive data center in the United States, and he says the clock is ticking.
The "Shark Tank" investor and chairman of O'Leary Ventures told Business Insider that America's need for compute power is a national security issue. He argued that the country is falling behind China in the race to build the infrastructure that powers artificial intelligence.
"This is not about making money," O'Leary said. "This is about winning."
O'Leary's plan calls for a data center campus that would consume more than a gigawatt of power. That is roughly the output of a small nuclear reactor. He said the project would cost between $30 billion and $40 billion and take five to seven years to complete.
The challenge is finding the land, the power, and the permits. O'Leary said he has looked at sites in several states, including Texas, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. The biggest hurdle is getting enough electricity to run the facility.
"You need a substation the size of a football field," he said.
O'Leary's push comes as the Biden administration has made AI infrastructure a priority. The White House has designated 10 sites across the country for potential data center development. The goal is to speed up permitting and grid connections.
China, meanwhile, is building fast. The country already has more than 200 data centers under construction, according to industry estimates. O'Leary said the U.S. needs to match that pace or risk losing the AI race.
"The Chinese are not waiting," he said. "They are building."
O'Leary's project would be one of the largest private infrastructure investments in U.S. history. He said he has lined up financing from a group of institutional investors, including pension funds and sovereign wealth funds. He declined to name them.
The data center would be designed to run the most advanced AI models, including those from OpenAI, Google, and Meta. O'Leary said he has already signed letters of intent with several cloud providers to lease the space.
The economics work, he said, because demand for compute power is growing faster than supply. AI training runs require thousands of chips running for weeks at a time. That creates a market for dedicated facilities that can deliver power at scale.
"The demand is infinite," O'Leary said. "The supply is finite."
O'Leary's timeline is aggressive. He wants to break ground within 18 months. That means securing permits and power agreements in a fraction of the usual time. He said he is willing to work with state and local governments to fast-track the approvals.
"I am not going to wait 10 years," he said. "We don't have 10 years."
The project faces opposition from environmental groups, who argue that data centers consume too much energy and water. O'Leary said he plans to use advanced cooling technology that reduces water usage by 80% compared with traditional designs.
He also said the facility would be powered by a mix of natural gas, nuclear, and renewable energy. The goal is to run the data center on carbon-free power by 2030.
"I am not an environmentalist," O'Leary said. "But I am not stupid. If I can save money and save the planet, I will do both."
O'Leary's pitch to investors is simple: the U.S. cannot afford to lose the AI race. Compute power is the new oil, he said, and the country that controls it will dominate the 21st century.
"This is the most important infrastructure project in America," he said. "And I am going to build it."
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