Trump Strengthens AI, Announces "$100 Billion Private Investment"

Announcement at Pennsylvania Forum

U.S. President Donald Trump announced on the 15th (local time) a large-scale private infrastructure investment plan totaling $100 billion related to artificial intelligence (AI), a key battleground in the U.S.-China competition.

At the "1st Pennsylvania Energy & Innovation Summit" held in Pittsburgh, President Trump stated, "This afternoon, 20 leading technology and energy companies announced investments of more than $92 billion (about ₩127 trillion) in Pennsylvania," adding, "It is the largest private investment in Pennsylvania's history." Over $36 billion is expected to be invested in new projects for building data centers necessary for AI training, and more than $56 billion will go toward energy infrastructure to supply electricity to data centers and other facilities. Bloomberg News reported that companies such as Blackstone and CoreWeave are planning to focus investments on data center construction, power and transmission infrastructure upgrades, and AI training.

President Trump also emphasized that the United States' AI capabilities are far ahead of China's. He said, "China and other countries are racing to catch up with the United States in AI, but we will not let them catch up." This investment is expected to create tens of thousands of jobs in Pennsylvania's AI and energy sectors.

The reason President Trump announced the AI private investment plan here is not unrelated to Pennsylvania's political significance. Pennsylvania has recently been a decisive swing state in the U.S. presidential elections. In last year's election, it was one of the seven key battleground states, boasting the most electors at 19.

By Hankyung Reporter hankyung@hankyung.com