Michael Burry Calls For $1 Trillion Nuclear Buildout To Power AI Boom, Says It's The Only Hope To 'Keep Up With China'

Michael Burry urged President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance on Friday to fast-track a $1 trillion nuclear power and grid expansion plan to power the surging AI-driven electricity demand, arguing it’s the only way for the U.S. to compete with China and sustain long-term growth.

Burry Pushes Nuclear Power As Strategic Imperative

In a post on X, Burry, known for his accurate prediction of the mid-2000s U.S. housing bubble burst, called for a $1 trillion federal investment to rapidly deploy small nuclear reactors across the country while simultaneously building a modern, hardened national power grid.

He said the effort should move quickly and avoid prolonged regulatory delays, arguing that energy shortages could soon become a major constraint on American innovation and economic growth.

"This is the only hope of getting enough power to keep up with China," Burry wrote, adding that abundant energy is essential for long-term national security and the ability to eventually manage U.S. debt.

Burry's comments come as artificial intelligence fuels explosive demand for electricity, particularly from data centers and advanced manufacturing facilities.

Tech Leaders Echo Concerns Over Regulation

Sharing Burry's post, Futurum Group CEO Daniel Newman said regulatory hurdles are the biggest obstacle to sustaining the AI revolution.

"Four words about AI that I never planned to say: Michael Burry is right," Newman wrote. "Regulation is our single biggest bottleneck to achieving our lofty AI ambitions."

Newman also dismissed fears of an AI bubble, arguing that demand is real, but power constraints threaten progress.

"We cannot energize the data centers we will need … if we don't speed up the buildout of energy and remove the mass of regulation that slows ‘breaking ground,'" he said.

Elon Musk Says Solar Power Will Dominate Future Energy

Last year, Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) Elon Musk said that "solar electricity will become by far the biggest source of power for civilization," responding to data highlighting solar's growing share of new electricity generation.

Major tech companies such as Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META), Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT), and Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) are facing mounting electricity constraints as next-generation AI data centers draw record levels of power.

In the U.S., electricity demand is projected to rise about 2.6% per year through 2030, driven largely by the rapid expansion of data centers and well above the pace seen over the past two decades.

Meanwhile, venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya has warned that the resulting strain on the grid could cause electricity prices to double within the next five years.

Previously, Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang said that the long-term growth of AI will be limited not by chips, but by access to electricity.

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

Image via Shutterstock