(Bloomberg) – Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman said the artificial intelligence boom could lead to more data center construction and overload industrial power grids.
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Speaking at the Asia-Pacific Finance and Innovation Symposium in Melbourne on Tuesday, Mr Schwarzman said there was a “land rush” underway to build centers to provide AI infrastructure.
“This is like nothing I've ever seen before,” Schwartzman said via webcast. “The amount of money being invested in this area is amazing. It's happening all over the world right now.”
Blackstone, which acquired data center operator QTS in a $10 billion deal in 2021, is self-funding the development of large-scale structures across the United States to serve critical computing needs. Schwarzman said the enormous amount of electricity these centers use presents an investment opportunity.
“Different states in the United States are starting to run out of power,” said the co-founder and chairman of the world's largest alternative asset manager. “The lack of industrial grid capacity due to AI and EVs is creating a huge investment opportunity.”
Schwartzman said QTS has been “very successful.”
“If you build these data centers with a 30-year contract, you can generate a 20% return,” he said. “This is pretty amazing.”
Schwartzman also warned about AI, saying nearly everyone he knows is concerned about what will happen to the technology, and this is the first time he's seen business people support regulation. said.
“It's not going to be for your children or grandchildren. It's going to happen on your watch,” Schwartzman said. “The people who are afraid of technology are actually the people who invented it.”
Schwarzman recently spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who said that global standards don't work if some countries have rules and others don't. He said it was necessary.
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