Microsoft plans to invest around 80 billion USD in the expansion of data centers in the current fiscal year. More than half of this amount will go to projects in the USA specifically intended for the use of artificial intelligence (AI), the company stated in a blog post.

These investments are intended to lay the foundation for training AI models and introducing new AI features in Microsoft products worldwide. Through close partnership with OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, Microsoft positioned itself as a pioneer in integrating AI into its entire software portfolio.

The enormous computing power required for AI models, however, places high demands on the infrastructure. A notable example is the recommissioning of a reactor at the decommissioned US nuclear power plant Three Mile Island. The company has committed to purchase the produced energy for 20 years. It is the first case of a decommissioned nuclear power plant in the USA going back online.