Trump, Musk and others meet, Microsoft US$80 billion to build AI data center

In an important meeting recently, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella met with US President-elect Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk ) had an in-depth discussion. The conference's main topics revolved around artificial intelligence (AI) and cybersecurity, marking further engagement between the technology industry and the new government.

According to Microsoft's statement, the meeting mentioned that the company plans to invest US$80 billion in the construction of artificial intelligence data centers globally, of which more than US$50 billion will be spent in the United States, which is expected to create a large number of jobs in the United States. Microsoft President Brad Smith also participated in the meeting, and Trump's running mate JD Vance was also present.

Relations between Silicon Valley and Trump have gradually warmed since Trump won the presidential election last year, despite frequent friction during his first term. Many tech leaders chose to travel to Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, where Trump and Musk held a series of private meetings and dinners to discuss future plans.

Smith warned the incoming Trump administration at the meeting that regulatory measures should not be too stringent when it comes to artificial intelligence. He pointed out that the current top priority of public policy in the United States should be to ensure that the private sector can develop smoothly. He emphasized the need for a pragmatic export control policy that balances strong security protections for AI components in trusted data centers with the ability of U.S. companies to expand rapidly to provide reliable supply to U.S. allies and friends.

As demand for artificial intelligence services surges, cloud infrastructure providers such as Microsoft and Amazon are scrambling to expand computing power and build new data centers. In the last fiscal year ending in June 2024, Microsoft's capital expenditures exceeded US$50 billion, most of which was used for the construction of server farms, mainly to meet the demand for artificial intelligence services.

The construction of data centers requires a large number of high-performance chips, and Microsoft works closely with many companies, including Nvidia and Dell Technologies. In addition, to meet its huge energy needs, Microsoft even reached an agreement with the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant to restart the reactor. The plant is famous for its partial meltdown in 1979, and Amazon and Google have similar nuclear power deals.