Elon Musk Calls on Countries to Build Data Centers at North Carolina G20 Meeting

Elon Musk lamented a global “crisis of power” on Tuesday as the Tesla and SpaceX CEO spoke virtually at a G20 innovation event hosted in North Carolina by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Commerce Department. Musk cited a likely 15 gigawatt shortage of power next year for AI chips, calling on other countries to build data centers that could service AI companies desperate for computing capacity.

In a brief virtual interview with Office of Science and Technology Policy director Michael Kratsios, Musk predicted that AI will grow the global economy by 20-30% annually. He also predicted that a billion humanoid robots—including those Musk’s Tesla are building—will be available in the next decade. The robots will be five times more productive than humans, he said. Musk’s compensation package at Tesla is partially tied to the success of the company’s robot product, dubbed Optimus.

Opening the program, Kratsios said the event is designed to build consensus around the “Carolina Principles, or guidelines that encourage companies to invest in frontier technologies while adopting limited regulation. After Musk spoke, former White House AI czar David Sacks derided the idea of the U.S. government building a “FDA for AI” that would approve new AI models before companies release them to the public. The Information reported last week that an executive order draft that would establish a self-regulatory organization for AI companies has stalled within the Trump administration.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman are expected to speak on Wednesday during the second day of the event.