Nvidia & xAI Join Big Tech in AI Infrastructure Partnership
Nvidia and xAI have joined a consortium backed by technology giant Microsoft, investment fund MGX and BlackRock to expand AI infrastructure in the US.
The companies shared this news on Wednesday, as Nvidia’s GTC event was ongoing and as the global AI race continues to surge. Initial plans are to raise US$30bn from investors and companies with the goal of achieving US$100bn in total to bankroll data centre development and energy projects to power generative AI (Gen AI) and other AI applications.
xAI, developed by Elon Musk, has previously been working with Nvidia to accelerate supercomputing. Both companies remain eager to develop the infrastructure required to support data centre development.
“The global buildout of AI infrastructure will benefit every company and country that wants to achieve economic growth and unlock solutions to the world’s greatest challenges,” says Jensen Huang, CEO at Nvidia.
What is the AI Infrastructure Partnership?
The group, also known as AIP, is designed to address the rising power and digital infrastructure demands that have come with building more AI products.
This sudden urge to develop and deploy AI leaves the data centre industry facing capacity constraints and environmental concerns, given that AI compute requires significantly higher levels of power, energy and water to run. Such innovation is challenging existing, or legacy, infrastructure, prompting further discussions over how to build facilities with AI as the core focus.
With the fund consisting of BlackRock, Microsoft and Abu Dhabi AI investment fund MGX, Nvidia has already been providing technical advice, but is now becoming a full partner. This will be alongside xAI, which emerged as a recent rival to OpenAI.
AIP hopes to strengthen its technology leadership as it seeks to invest in new and expanded AI infrastructure, with Nvidia supporting by leveraging its expertise in accelerated computing and AI factories to inform the deployment of next-generation AI data centre infrastructure.
“AI factories built on NVIDIA’s full-stack AI infrastructure will convert data into intelligence that will accelerate every industry and help society achieve unimaginable breakthroughs,” Jensen adds.
GE Vernova and NextEra Energy have also agreed to collaborate with AIP to accelerate the scaling of energy solutions for AI data centres.
An organisation like this is a testament to how quickly demand for AI-ready data centres is growing.
“AI infrastructure will play an increasingly critical role in driving economic growth across every industry and every region of the world,” shares Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO at Microsoft.
“We’re thrilled to welcome these new companies to the AI Infrastructure Partnership as we invest together to build the infrastructure of the future.”
By investing in next-generation AI data centres and energy infrastructure, AIP hopes to be at the forefront of shaping the future of AI-driven economic growth.
The organisation will initially focus on the US to drive AI innovation, economic expansion and the advancement of critical digital and energy infrastructure.
Supporting a US data centre ‘buildout’
The news comes as the US seeks to support a growing AI industry by investing hugely into data centre development.
At the start of the year, former US President Joe Biden signed an executive order for leasing federal sites owned by the US government’s Defense and Energy departments. This was designed to host gigawatt–scale AI data centres and new clean power facilities to immediately confront significant power needs.
Biden explained at the time that the order would “accelerate the speed at which we build the next generation of AI infrastructure here in America, in a way that enhances economic competitiveness, national security, AI safety, and clean energy.”
Now with a new President in office, Donald Trump has been just as eager to support AI infrastructure development, having announced Stargate earlier in the year, which is backed by SoftBank Group, OpenAI and Oracle.
Technology companies are pledging huge sums of money to the buildout AI and the infrastructure it requires. However, this has led to sustainability concerns, with the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimating that global electricity consumption by data centres alone could surpass 1,000 terawatt-hours by 2026 - more than double the amount used in 2022.
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