October 28, 2025 – OpenAI has sounded the alarm that for the United States to outpace China in the fierce artificial intelligence (AI) development race, a substantial hike in investment in new energy capacity is an absolute must.
In recent months, the company has embarked on a series of ambitious infrastructure construction projects. These initiatives are set to be power – hungry behemoths. With the existing U.S. power grid already under immense strain, these massive data centers will push the current electrical system to its breaking point.
In a blog post released on Tuesday, OpenAI made it clear that “Electricity is far more than just a public utility; it is a strategic asset. It plays a pivotal role in building the next – generation AI infrastructure, which is crucial for maintaining our lead in what is arguably the most significant technological field since the advent of electricity itself.”
OpenAI has also submitted an 11 – page policy recommendation document to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. In this document, it urges the United States to pledge to add 100 gigawatts of new generating capacity annually.
For context, a gigawatt is a unit of power measurement. According to an analysis by CNBC of data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 10 gigawatts of electricity can roughly meet the annual power consumption of 8 million American households.
OpenAI points out a stark contrast: China added 429 gigawatts of new power capacity last year, while the United States only managed to increase its capacity by 51 gigawatts. The company warns that this growing disparity is creating an “electronic divide,” putting the United States at risk of falling behind in the global competition.
“Electricity is the new oil,” OpenAI emphasized, highlighting the critical importance of this resource in the modern technological landscape.
