OpenAI asked Trump administration to expand Chips Act tax credit to cover data centers (techcrunch.com)

OpenAI has urged the U.S. government to broaden the Advanced Manufacturing Investment Credit (AMIC) — a 35% tax credit created by the Chips Act — to cover electrical-grid upgrades, AI servers, and AI data centers, arguing that doing so would lower the effective cost of capital, de-risk early investment, and unlock private funding to speed an “AI build” in the U.S. In a letter from chief global affairs officer Chris Lehane to the White House science advisor, OpenAI also asked for faster permitting and environmental reviews and called for a strategic reserve of raw materials (copper, aluminum and processed rare earths) needed for large-scale AI infrastructure deployment. The request signals a shift in policy conversations from subsidizing only semiconductor fabs to supporting the broader compute, power and supply-chain ecosystem required for large AI models — with implications for grid modernization, materials supply chains, permitting regimes, and competition between domestic and foreign cloud/data-center builders. While CFO Sarah Friar briefly said the company wanted a government “backstop” for infrastructure loans (a remark she later walked back), CEO Sam Altman said OpenAI is not seeking guarantees and cautioned against governments picking winners. Altman also projected OpenAI above $20B annualized revenue by end-2025 and disclosed roughly $1.4 trillion in planned capital commitments over eight years, underscoring the scale of investment the company says such policy changes would help unlock.