REASSURANCE: AI would not be in crisis simply because a different party won, and data centers would not cause power shortages, Pegatron chairman Tung Tzu-hsien said
By Esme Yeh / Staff writer, with CNA
Artificial intelligence （AI） development in the US would not be halted simply because Democrats won the US midterms, as it is rising and does not belong to a single party, Pegatron chairman Tung Tzu-hsien （童子賢） said yesterday.
The market has been worried that AI data centers under construction in the US would be affected after the Democratic Party captured the US Senate and Congress yesterday, including concerns that the centers might be subject to local slowdown policies or tighter regulations.
Although local practices could be adjusted or negotiated according to public opinion, overall AI development is not likely to be halted, as it is at the core of US national strength, Tung said.
AI has been rising in full scale since around the end of former US president Joe Biden’s presidency and is not a product belonging to a political party, he said.
Tung dismissed worries that AI would be in crisis simply because of election results and that AI data centers would cause power shortages or inflation in areas such as Texas.
Texas has massive natural gas pipelines, he said, adding that gas power generation has extremely low costs.
Natural gas power in Texas costs little more than NT$1 per kilowatt-hour, which is cheaper by more than half compared with importing liquefied natural gas, Tung said.
“I don’t believe the US would be short of electricity,” he said.
The US is the biggest oil and gas-producing country and its neighbor Canada is the fourth-largest oil-producing country, Tung said.
As long as the US has low-cost electricity and vast land, it would be ideal for power-consuming data centers, he said.
Regarding worries that data centers strain power grids without enriching local communities, Tung said data centers create limited job opportunities as their operations are highly automatic, calling on money-making tech giants to give back to locals.
“It’s like two people keeping 10 dogs. The 10 dogs do the patrol job and the two guys feed the dogs,” he said.
Local backlash would not likely evolve into an opposition force that would fully hamper AI development, Tung said.
Short sellers might be using post-election pessimism to drive down market prices, he said, adding that the AI boom would unwaveringly continue to boost US competitiveness.
新聞來源：
TAIPEI TIMES