Syracuse Post Standard: If New York starves its grid, it will starve its AI future (Guest Opinion by Justin Wilcox)

December 18th, 2025

Dec. 18, 2025 – Read on Syarcuse.com here.

The future of artificial intelligence is a race for power, and the companies leading the next wave of AI development say the real bottleneck isn’t hardware, but electricity and the infrastructure to deliver it. If New York fails to invest in its electric grid, it won’t just fall behind in the AI race. It will be left out entirely — a result that will undermine the United States’ standing in the global tech race.

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Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recently revealed that the company has AI graphics processing units sitting idle because there’s not enough power or ready data center space to support them. In other words, the grid, not the technology, is holding back progress.

Worse, as OpenAI warns, China is working to beat out the U.S. in AI innovation and quickly fortifying its energy grid. In a letter to the White House, the ChatGPT developer writes that in 2024 alone, China “added 429 [gigawatts] of new power capacity, more than one-third of the entire US grid, and more than half of all global electricity growth. The U.S. contributed just 51 GW, or 12%.”

New York’s electric grid is under pressure. The state’s grid operator says that as old fossil fuel plants shut down, new sources of electricity aren’t being added fast enough. At the same time, demand is rising quickly, especially from data centers and AI facilities that use a lot of power. In its latest 2025 Power Trends report, New York’s grid operator highlights a sharp increase in electricity use and warns that without enough supply and better transmission lines, the system could struggle to keep up. They’re already predicting a power shortfall in New York City by the early 2030s if things don’t improve.

The global demand for electricity to power artificial intelligence is accelerating at an unprecedented pace. According to the International Energy Agency, global electricity consumption from data centers is expected to more than double by 2030, reaching approximately 945 terawatt-hours — nearly half of which will come from the United States. In simple terms, the regions that can deliver large volumes of reliable, clean power quickly will be the ones that attract the lion’s share of AI investment, high-paying jobs, and innovation ecosystems.

Gov. Kathy Hochul has made clear her desire to position the state as a leader in artificial intelligence, with the New York state Legislature supporting her proposals to fund Empire AI. Yet many of these same legislators have opposed utility investment plans, such as those from National Grid and Con Edison, that are essential for upgrading the electric grid to support AI infrastructure. This contradiction is hard to ignore.

Blocking proposed utility investments without offering viable alternatives is not just shortsighted; it’s self-defeating. These political gestures may score points in the short term, but they risk sabotaging the state’s long-term economic future. The ambitions to lead in AI are incompatible with a grid that cannot deliver what these data centers will demand. Politicians cannot credibly promise AI-driven growth while opposing the rate structures that fund transmission upgrades, substations and reliability improvements that support them. If New York wants to be taken seriously as an AI leader, its policymakers must align their rhetoric with the realities of infrastructure economics. Otherwise, the state risks becoming a place where AI is talked about but never built.

If New York hesitates, others won’t.

States that pair fast-tracked grid investment with credible power portfolios will bank multibillion-dollar campuses, supply chains and an expanding tax base. New York still has the potential to lead in the AI economy, but doing so requires a shift from aspirational goals to concrete execution. The state must begin treating its grid infrastructure as a strategic asset, especially for clean energy flowing from upstate to downstate. Fast-tracking projects with stable cost-recovery mechanisms and decisive siting decisions is essential to avoid delays.

Equally important is clearing the interconnection queue in a coordinated way — pairing large load requests from data centers with clean generation and storage projects to reduce risk and accelerate deployment. AI infrastructure should be designed to support grid stability, flexible load operations and participation in demand response programs. Finally, climate ambition must be matched by siting speed. Clean energy targets will only attract AI investment if electrons can reach interconnection points on time, which means streamlined permitting, sustained funding and market signals that reward deliverability.

The AI economy is choosing jurisdictions that can quickly deliver reliable power at scale. If New York underinvests in its grid, the state won’t merely miss climate milestones; it will miss construction jobs, permanent high-wage operations, and an ecosystem of startups that grow up around compute hubs.

If New York invests in power infrastructure, tech companies will come. Fail, and New York will be left in the dark.

Justin Wilcox is executive director at Upstate United, a nonpartisan business and taxpayer advocacy coalition focused on growing the Upstate economy.