Blackstone CEO Warns AI Boom Threatens World’s Electricity Grids

Blackstone Inc. Chief Executive Officer Steve Schwarzman said the artificial intelligence boom is threatening to overload power grids in the industrial world as more and more data centers are built.

There’s a “land rush” underway to build centers that provide the infrastructure for AI, Schwarzman said at the the Asia Pacific Financial and Innovation Symposium in Melbourne on Tuesday.

“This is like something I’ve never seen,” Schwarzman said via webcast. “The amount of money being invested in this area is breathtaking. It’s happening now all over the world.”

Blackstone, which in 2021 acquired data center operator QTS in a $10 ...