“Shark Tank” investor Kevin O’Leary unveiled plans for a massive Utah data center on Monday, marking the latest endeavor to defeat China in the intensifying AI race.
“It shows the Chinese and the rest of the world we’re not messing around,” the O’Leary Ventures chairman told “Fox & Friends.”
“We’re going to get this done and move it forward and provide the computing power to our AI companies that defend the country.”
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The data center project is expected to span roughly 40,000 acres and generate massive amounts of energy to support AI infrastructure, with O’Leary saying the site could begin with about three gigawatts of power capacity.
O’Leary emphasized that the facility is designed to bypass one of the biggest hurdles facing similar projects across the U.S.: strain on local power grids.
“Most people don’t like data centers for good reason,” he said.
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“You tap it to the grid and all of a sudden the electrical costs for their church and the community and the residents all go up, and that’s why there’s been a lot of pushback. Not in this case.”
Instead, O’Leary explained, the Utah site will generate its own energy using a nearby natural gas pipeline, allowing it to operate independently while also potentially supplying excess power back to the grid.
“That’s good for the community, but for the country, we need to compete with China. We need AI computing power, and so where do you put that? You put that in data centers.”
O’Leary additionally suggested that the site could attract hyperscalers, or major tech companies, and potentially government partners.
“We need to lead in AI in perpetuity. Data centers are what we need, and we need them now, and Utah stepped up,” he added.
