President Donald Trump on Wednesday offered Silicon Valley an unusual deal to build its own nuclear power plants to fuel artificial intelligence, which his administration will approve in just three weeks.
Trump spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to a roomful of technology executives struggling with the aging U.S. power grid.
“I came up with the idea,” Trump said. “You’re smart. You have a lot of money. You can build your own power plant.”
Trump talked about energy issues for about 10 minutes during his speech, making it clear that Trump sees a strained power grid as a major economic risk in 2026. As artificial intelligence drives electricity demand to record highs, governments are viewing power shortages as an existential threat to economic growth and national security. Trump sees the shortened approval timeline as a necessary response to an energy system that he believes is simply not ready for the age of artificial intelligence.
“We’re going to need more than twice the energy that this country has now to take care of the AI factories,” Trump said.
The proposal marks a radical departure from the traditional Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) process, which has historically required four to five years Environmental and design approvals and rigorous site selection. Trump claimed that while tech leaders initially “didn’t believe him,” he assured them that the government would approve oil and gas plants in just two weeks and nuclear projects in three weeks.
Trump said he was not previously a “big fan” of nuclear power but now sees it as a new viable solution due to its improved safety.
“The progress they’ve made on nuclear energy is incredible,” he said. “We’re very keen on the nuclear energy space and now we can get it at a great price and it’s very, very safe.”
While the coming wave of small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) could win regulatory approval in less than two years, there is little basis for completing the approval process with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in nearly three weeks, and such an accelerated process would raise widespread concerns about safety and environmental risks.
Trump also touted a new energy alliance with Venezuela, noting that the United States received 50 million barrels of oil last week. “Attack over” About the country that led to President Nicolás Maduro’s ouster. He said the new cooperation between the two countries would do Venezuela “very good” while pushing U.S. gasoline prices to $2 a gallon.
Gasoline prices are the main inflation indicator as costs fall in the first year of the new Trump administration. But they are nowhere near $2.00 per gallon. The national average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline this week was $2.76 per gallon, down 32 cents from a year ago, largely due to increased OPEC oil production.
But Trump contrasts sharply with Europe’s energy landscape. Trump mocked the “new green hoax”, saying electricity prices in Germany had soared 64% while UK energy production fell “catastrophically”. His goal is the north ocean and the proliferation of wind farms, which he calls “bird-killing losers.”
“Stupid people buy” wind farms, Trump laughs.