Bolstering Data Center Growth, Resilience, and Security Listening Session

Building on NTIA’s 2024 Request for Comment on Bolstering Data Center Growth, Resilience, and Security, this listening session is seeking input from all interested stakeholders, including private industry, academia, civil society, and other experts. Ultimately, this session will inform a forthcoming NTIA report outlining challenges and opportunities to data center growth, resilience and security, as well as offering targeted and actionable policy recommendations. NTIA staff will solicit feedback on the following issues, as well as any other relevant topics raised by participants:

1. Challenges and opportunities to bolster data center growth in the United States, including:

• Permitting, including grid interconnection enhancement, nuclear licensing and permitting, and environmental laws impacting permitting e.g., National Environmental Policy Act;
• Supply chain management, shortages (e.g., generators, transformers, chips, printed circuit boards, copper, aluminum), vulnerabilities and opportunities; and
• Cybersecurity, including threats, best practices and guidelines.

2. Critical market considerations for the data center industry, including:

• Access to power from diverse energy sources, including nuclear energy, small modular reactors, and more;
• Off the grid solutions;
• Infrastructure, including grid modernization, grid-enhancing technologies, access to fiber and broadband;
• Build America, Buy America (BABA) requirements;
• Workforce availability and development; and
• Interplay between data centers and subsea cables.

3. Latest policy and market development issues impacting data centers.

4. Role or actions, if any, that could be taken by the Department of Commerce and the federal government to address the challenges to data center growth, security, and resiliency.