A look at some of the major investments unveiled during AI and energy summit in Pittsburgh
With pomp and fanfare, the on Tuesday in Pittsburgh showcased the technological know-how of the region's universities and vast energy resources.
While several investments were unveiled, the region's aspirations are much bigger.
"The question we have to ask is what happens after that circus leaves? We need to be ensuring that this translates into investment into the city," Gecko Robotics CEO Jake Loosararian said.
A lot of the investments announced on Tuesday are in the discussion phase, and most of the big-ticket projects are in the eastern part of the state. But in southwestern Pennsylvania, the focus is on generating the massive amounts of energy artificial intelligence requires.
A $15 billion retrofit of the Homer City power plant to natural gas is expected to power a massive data center providing AI companies the computing capacity needed, and FirstEnergy says it's investing $15 billion in upgrades to Pennsylvania's power grid to provide the reliable transmission of electricity.
"To enable things like artificial intelligence development, shale gas development and any other form of economic and technological development that there is," FirstEnergy CEO Brian Tierney said.
But the biggest news involves Cranberry-based Westinghouse, which announced it will be building 10 large nuclear reactors across the country beginning in 2030, creating $75 billion of economic value nationally and $6 billion in Pennsylvania. Emerging from bankruptcy in 2018, the resurgent company says it needs to hire 15,000 new employees in the state.
"These are great jobs across manufacturing, engineering and construction," interim Westinghouse CEO Dan Sumner said.
Ramped-up energy production will enable the construction of more data centers like the one now proposed at the old Jones and Laughlin Steel site in Aliquippa, and centers like it are needed to spawn new AI and robotic companies like Pittsburgh's Gecko, which just recently attained unicorn status, meaning it's worth more than $1 billion.
"We need to see investments from those companies into this region continue to do so," Loosararian said. "You'll start to see an ecosystem of companies like Gecko that begin to emerge."
The summit has spawned new deals: a partnership between Gecko and U.S. Steel and another partnership between Google and Westinghouse.
