At the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, where elites have blathered for years about net zero and energy transition to renewables, President Donald Trump had a message all his own. He tackled one of the defining questions of this decade: how to power both a 21st-century economy and an emerging age of artificial intelligence. His answer was blunt and unmistakable.
The United States, he said, is “going heavy into nuclear.” His administration will move to approve new energy projects within “three weeks,” expanding his long-standing promise of American energy dominance to meet the exponential power demands of the AI revolution.
This was not a retreat from his oil-and-gas message but an evolution of it. By making nuclear power central to his Davos remarks, Trump signaled that he envisions the next economic frontier as a contest to generate the energy strong enough to sustain artificial intelligence on a global scale. The technologies shaping that future demand constant, enormous electricity, and Trump is positioning the U.S. to provide it.
He also acknowledged the cultural and political drag that sidelined nuclear power for decades. Perception has mattered more than science. Activist fear campaigns, led by doomerists like Ed Lyman, parading as safety experts and abetted by the renewables-only climate radicals, turned “nuclear” into a scare word, even though the record shows it to be among the safest and most efficient power sources available.
The same critics are back, this time opposing small modular reactors — the compact, factory‑built systems that could finally deliver the clean power they’ve long demanded. Trump’s response is pragmatic. He sees nuclear power as a solution that works rather than a controversy to be rehashed.
The urgency is growing. Federal energy officials now forecast record electricity demand through 2027, driven largely by data centers powering AI and cloud computing. The Energy Information Administration expects U.S. electricity use to hit all‑time highs in 2026 and 2027, and consumption from data centers is likely to double or triple by 2028. What once came from factories and new housing now comes from warehouses of servers humming for billions of users.
Regulators are beginning to adapt. Across the MidAtlantic and Midwest — where a single data campus can draw as much power as a small city — planners are warning that new demand must bring new supply. Grid operators like PJM, under direction from federal regulators, are rewriting rules to ensure large energy users secure or finance new generation when they expand.
That shift protects households and industry. When Trump tells tech firms to build their own power, he is shielding ordinary people from rate shocks that could follow the digital boom. If rising demand carries its own supply, families won’t shoulder the cost through steeper bills or power shortages.
The message is straightforward: If technology companies intend to remake the economy, they must help sustain it. With its unmatched energy density and small footprint, nuclear power remains the only scalable source capable of meeting that challenge. Announcements such as Meta’s recent commitment to build new modular reactors and extend the life of existing plants to power a major AI project in Ohio indicate that the industry has received the message loud and clear.
Trump’s new nuclear emphasis also doubles as a national security strategy. His administration has moved to deploy advanced reactors for defense facilities and AI infrastructure, reframing energy as a strategic asset rather than a neutral utility. In 2025, an executive order accelerated deployment for both military and digital systems, blending economic policy and defense planning into a single agenda.
Whoever controls the energy behind artificial intelligence will shape the century’s economy and balance of power. Depending on supply chains dominated by Beijing for solar panels, rare earths, or batteries is not simply shortsighted. It is reckless. A domestic nuclear revival is the safeguard.
No one expects licensing reactors in mere weeks to be simple, but a president who sets an audacious goal can shake bureaucracies out of paralysis. Trump’s early executive orders have already revived what the Department of Energy calls a “nuclear renaissance,” focused on cutting red tape and rebuilding the industrial base.
America now has a chance to align its economic ambition, climate goals, and security needs around one idea: build nuclear power safely and rapidly. Oil and gas secured the last energy era. New nuclear reactors can help secure the next.
MELANIA UNDERSTANDS THE ASSIGNMENT
If the nation seizes that opportunity, Americans will enjoy reliable, affordable energy and the confidence that their digital future is built at home. Either the nation builds capacity at a pace unseen in decades, or it risks a dimmer future.
Joe Grogan is the President and co-founder of Public Policy Solutions. He served as President Trump’s Domestic Policy Advisor (2019-2020).
