OpenAI seeks AMIC expansion to cover AI data centres, servers and grid components
Proposal argues tax credits lower financing costs and unlock private capital for buildout
Congressional action likely required; critics warn risks of taxpayer exposure and market distortion
OpenAI has asked the US government to expand a chips-focused investment tax credit to include AI data centres, AI server production and critical electrical-grid components. The company argues the move would lower the cost of capital and unlock private investment for a massive AI infrastructure build-out.
In a formal letter dated October 27 to Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, OpenAI’s chief global affairs officer Chris Lehane recommended broadening the Advanced Manufacturing Investment Credit (AMIC), a major provision of the CHIPS-era incentives, so that the current semiconductor tax benefit would apply to AI servers, data-centre construction and long-lead grid items such as transformers and specialised steel.
Lehane said expanding AMIC would “de-risk early investment and unlock private capital” to help alleviate supply-chain and capacity bottlenecks.
Why OpenAI Says it’s Needed
OpenAI told policymakers that the high upfront costs and long, uncertain lifespans of AI facilities make conventional financing expensive and slow to arrange.
The company argues that tax credits, grants, cost-sharing, loans or loan guarantees for manufacturers and infrastructure suppliers would lower financing costs, accelerate deployment and strengthen domestic supply chains for copper, electrical steel and other inputs it says are being distorted in global markets.
OpenAI’s Trillion Dollar AI Bet
The filing arrives amid public scrutiny of how to finance an enormous industry buildout. OpenAI has publicly announced very large capital plans for chip and data-center capacity, with total infrastructure build-out plans estimated to be over $1 trillion over the next decade.
The company is actively signing multi-billion dollar deals with partners like Nvidia, Oracle, AMD, Broadcom, and Amazon to finance and execute these ambitious plans.
Comments earlier this week by CFO Sarah Friar suggesting the government could “backstop” financing prompted alarm among some observers; Friar later said she had misspoken. CEO Sam Altman also clarified that OpenAI does not seek a direct government bailout for its own datacentres and warned against the government picking winners.
Government & Market Reaction
Senior White House officials have publicly dismissed the idea of federal bailouts for private AI firms. Commentators and some lawmakers have expressed unease about expanding taxpayer exposure to commercial risk, while others see targeted incentives as a way to restore domestic manufacturing and jobs.
OpenAI frames its proposal as broad infrastructure and industrial policy rather than a firm-specific subsidy, and its letter recommends program designs that would apply across manufacturers and suppliers.
AMIC’s current scope is defined by statute and Treasury rules; widening it to cover data centres and non-chip hardware would likely require Congressional action or a permissive reinterpretation of existing law. Any federal programme to underwrite or guarantee loans would also need careful policy design, eligibility criteria, limits, transparency, and clawback mechanisms, and would probably attract extended scrutiny from appropriations committees and regulators.
