Canadian billionaire investor Kevin O’Leary has raised alarm on America’s ability to sustain its artificial intelligence boom, bluntly declaring that the United States lacks the physical infrastructure to power the technology it pioneered. In a post shared on social media platform (formerly known as Twitter) O’Leary argued that while AI productivity has fuelled record highs in the S&P 500 across all 11 sectors over the past two years, the U.S. energy grid is dangerously stagnant compared to China’s aggressive expansion.“Here’s our problem… We have no power,” O’Leary said. He contrasted America’s grid stagnation with China’s rapid buildout, noting that Beijing has added 500 gigawatts of power in the last 24 months, while the U.S. has built “zero.” Without massive infrastructure upgrades, O’Leary warned, the U.S. cannot sustain the energy-hungry data centers required for the next phase of AI.Apart from the grid, O’Leary also criticised US economic policy and warned that investors should not expect refile from interest rates while Jerome Powell remains Federal Reserve Chair. He also feels that tariffs are a direct driver of inflation.
Kevin O’Leary ’s warning for America on China
“I’m not as optimistic that jawboning the Fed is going to get rates reduced anytime soon. I mean this is an unusual situation obviously, but I don’t think you can count on rate cuts while Powell’s there. This tariff situation is getting really interesting. Tariffs themselves on commodities or goods that you don’t create yourself is inflationary. There’s no way around it. Get rid of those tariffs so they can bring down those increased costs on that affordability issue. The reason the S&P maintains new highs, in my opinion, is the productivity factor brought in by AI tools that have just started to be used in the last 24 months is really effective. We’re starting to see how good this can be across all 11 sectors. Here’s our problem and why I have a little caution to these statements. We have no power. The Chinese have built 500 gigawatts in the last 24 months. We have built zero. We have no power on the grid. This is a big problem,” wrote Kevin on X.While acknowledging the effectiveness of AI tools, he stressed that software alone cannot deliver growth without the hardware — and the wattage — to run it.
