AI and Cryptos Are Getting a Bipartisan Helping Hand
The Weekend Edition is pulled from the daily Stansberry Digest.
The outgoing resident of the White House is making news...
It's a big story and good news. But we're not talking about this week's reported ceasefire and hostage deal between Hamas and Israel, which comes in the final days of the Biden administration, though it was reportedly developed in coordination with President-elect Donald Trump's administration.
Instead, I'm talking about what President Biden did on Tuesday when he issued an executive order that could have a long-term impact on the U.S. economy... Big Tech... and certain energy companies.
In short, Biden cleared the path to make it easier for companies to build artificial-intelligence ("AI") data centers by opening up federally owned sites for data-center construction. From the order...
Building AI in the United States will help prevent adversaries from gaining access to, and using, powerful future systems to the detriment of our military and national security. It will also enable the United States Government to continue harnessing AI in service of national-security missions while preventing the United States from becoming dependent on other countries' infrastructure to develop and operate powerful AI tools.
This comes not long after Trump announced $20 billion in foreign investment to build data centers in the U.S., with more potentially on the way. So investments here have bipartisan support.
It's the "golden opportunity for American AI"...
At least, that's how Microsoft (MSFT) executive Brad Smith described the ongoing AI frenzy in a post on the company's blog this month. And he is betting big on the future impact of AI. From the blog post...
In many ways, artificial intelligence is the electricity of our age, and the next four years can build a foundation for America's economic success for the next quarter century.
To make sure Microsoft is at the forefront of the trend, Smith said Microsoft plans to spend $80 billion in AI capital expenditures for the 2025 fiscal year (which ends June 30). Half of that investment is coming straight into the U.S. And that's just for AI-focused data centers.
Other Magnificent Seven companies are making similar moves... Through August 2024, Amazon (AMZN), Alphabet (GOOGL), Meta Platforms (META), and Microsoft had spent a combined $125 billion on AI data centers.
But the investment in this space isn't done yet. The money will keep flowing to AI and data centers.
It's not just the Big Tech companies that are set to benefit. As Smith explained...
The massive datacenters that make all this possible are being built by construction firms, steel and other manufacturers, and innovative advances in electricity and liquid cooling.
And the AI infrastructure boom is already underway...
According to commercial construction research firm Dodge Construction Network, 78 data-center projects began construction in the first six months of 2024, totaling more than $9 billion.
That's triple the data-center construction spend from the first six months of 2021. And it includes the largest data-center project Dodge Construction has ever tracked, going back to 1967 – the New Albany 1 and 2 project in Ohio.
Now the government is offering a helping hand to boost construction even further. It's going to do it fast, too. The order directs the Department of Defense and Department of Energy to, by the end of February, select at least three federal lands where the private sector can build these data centers.
But the green light and incentive for building data centers is only part of the battle.
As we've covered before, data centers need huge amounts of power. Right now, data centers use between 1% and 2% of the overall power generated worldwide. By the end of the decade, Goldman Sachs predicts that will double to as much as 4%.
Switching gears, is this the start of another leg higher for bitcoin?...
Bitcoin – the world's most popular cryptocurrency, which has been enduring a bumpy ride of late after enjoying a postelection spike – soared above $100,000 again yesterday after briefly falling to around $90,000 earlier this week.
We hesitate to make a short-term prediction of where bitcoin's price will go next given the volatility, but if you ask our Crypto Capital editor Eric Wade, he'll tell you the entire crypto market could see much higher prices after Monday, January 20, when Trump is inaugurated to a second term in the White House.
We've written about this story before. As Eric says, "Donald Trump is probably the single most bullish development for the crypto market, ever." As he says...
Trump is widely expected to tear down regulations holding back the largest financial institutions from fully embracing bitcoin.
I predict he will quickly move to level the playing field by removing "geo-fencing" that prevents Americans from touching many crypto assets available elsewhere...
Most importantly, he plans to establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve – a development so bullish it's caused many experts to dramatically revise their bitcoin price targets considerably higher.
For these and other reasons, Eric says right now might be the last great opportunity to be "early" in owning crypto.
This time last year, Eric was saying bitcoin could reach $100,000 by the end of 2024, which it did. Eric has recommended so many big crypto winners that we had to create a separate "Hall of Fame" list for him at the bottom of every Digest e-mail.
Eric understands cryptos are still "new" to a lot of people, so in his terrific Crypto Capital service, he provides step-by-step guidance on how to buy your first bitcoin and special reports to get you started with buying his recommendations.
And now, he's bullish on one lesser-known "altcoin" that he says could deliver gains as high as 384X.
This sort of number may not often ring true. But Eric has the most successful track record of anyone at Stansberry Research over the past five years and has seemingly countless 1,000% returns. So this sort of life-changing prediction is worth listening to.
All the best,
Corey McLaughlin
Editor's note: In just two days, Eric says the entire crypto industry is going to shift. It's setting up for more freedom, transparency, and mainstream adoption... and then, much higher prices.
Once Donald Trump begins his second presidential term, the crypto system will be ready to transform – possibly as soon as day one. And investors willing to step out of their comfort zone right now could be rewarded with gains of up to 48,000% as this revolution unfolds. Don't miss your last chance to get into cryptos "early"... Get the details here.