Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk have called for increased investment in artificial intelligence data centers and electricity generation to support the technology’s rapid growth.
The tech leaders spoke virtually Tuesday at a G20 meeting of technology ministers in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, focused on the opportunities and disruptions created by artificial intelligence.
Zuckerberg said the expansion of AI infrastructure would create hundreds of thousands, and potentially millions, of jobs in skilled trades because of the growing demand for data centers.
He said Meta was already struggling to find enough skilled workers to build the data centers it needs.
Musk, meanwhile, warned of a looming electricity shortage caused by the rapid expansion of AI data centers, describing it as a “crisis of power” that could give China an advantage.
“There will be a significant power shortfall next year, not the distant future,” Musk said, adding that his companies were building additional power generation capacity alongside their data centers.
The comments came a day after U.S. President Donald Trump criticized opponents of AI data centers, describing them as “backwards and poor.”
The expansion of data centers has faced growing opposition in the United States, with critics citing higher electricity bills, noise and the strain placed on local power grids.
Musk said he expects artificial intelligence to expand the global economy by between 20% and 30%, equivalent to about $20 trillion to $30 trillion annually.
Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis, who also addressed the ministers virtually, said achieving human-level artificial intelligence could have an impact 10 times greater than the Industrial Revolution.
Hassabis said the development represented a major opportunity but stressed the need to pursue it responsibly.
The United States holds the rotating G20 presidency this year and is hosting a series of ministerial meetings ahead of the G20 leaders’ summit scheduled for Dec. 14-15 at Trump National Doral in Miami.
The Chapel Hill meeting was organized by White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman are expected to attend the meeting in person Wednesday for discussions with Lutnick.
Musk also criticized European governments for what he described as excessive technology regulation, arguing that innovation should generally be allowed unless specifically prohibited.
Technology ministers from France, Italy and Germany, along with European Union technology chief Henna Virkkunen, attended the meeting.
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