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AI Leaders Urge U.S. Senate to Accelerate Power Permitting, Unlock Government Data for AI Training

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Top executives from Microsoft, OpenAI, AMD, and CoreWeave will testify before the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee on Thursday, pressing lawmakers to modernize power infrastructure and expand access to federal data to meet the soaring demands of artificial intelligence.

Key Points from Testimonies:

🔹 Brad Smith (Microsoft President)

  • Warns U.S. AI development is hampered by “50-year-old infrastructure”.

  • Calls for streamlined permitting for new energy sources and transmission lines.

  • Urges Congress to unlock federal government data for AI training to stay competitive with China and the U.K.

“The federal government remains one of the largest untapped sources of high-quality data.”

🔹 Sam Altman (OpenAI CEO)

  • Emphasizes growing global reliance on AI:

“We want to build a brain for the world and make it super easy for people to use it.”

  • Says increased AI adoption requires more chips, energy, supercomputers, and training data.

  • Advocates for “common-sense restrictions” to mitigate potential AI harms.

🔹 Michael Intrator (CoreWeave CEO)

  • Highlights the massive energy appetite of AI:

“An insatiable hunger for compute and energy that borders on exponential.”

  • Points to DOE projections: Data centers could consume 12% of U.S. electricity by 2028 (up from 4.4% in 2023).

  • Urges faster approval of generation and transmission projects.

🔹 Lisa Su (AMD CEO)

  • Argues leadership in AI means rapid data center expansion powered by reliable, clean, affordable energy.

  • Stresses the need to extend AI beyond the cloud, integrating it into everyday consumer devices.

“AI must be as accessible and dependable as electricity.”

Context & Urgency:

  • The Senate hearing, titled “Winning the AI Race”, comes as AI’s power and data demands grow exponentially.

  • Leaders argue that regulatory inertia threatens U.S. competitiveness in AI against global rivals.

By linking national competitiveness with infrastructure and data reform, the tech leaders hope to align federal policy with AI’s exponential growth trajectory.

Jeff Bezos Leads $72M Investment in AI Data Firm Toloka to Fuel U.S. Expansion

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Jeff Bezos, through his personal firm Bezos Expeditions, is leading a $72 million funding round in Toloka, an AI data solutions company aiming to scale its global presence, particularly in the United States, Toloka told Reuters on Wednesday.

Toloka specializes in training and evaluating AI models using a global network of human experts and testers, providing high-quality data labeling and validation. The company is part of Nebius Group (NBIS.O), an AI infrastructure firm listed on Nasdaq and formerly affiliated with Russian tech giant Yandex.

The investment marks a significant milestone for CEO and founder Olga Megorskaya, who said the funding would accelerate product development by fostering collaboration between AI agents and human experts.

“There will always be the need for control, verification, and help from human experts to ensure that the result is actually of high quality,” she said.

Strategic Backing and Global Shift

The deal comes after Nebius successfully split from Yandex in a $5.4 billion exit from Russia, the largest corporate withdrawal since the 2022 Ukraine invasion. The restructuring allowed Nebius and Toloka to pursue Western capital without violating sanctions.

Other notable participants in the round include Mikhail Parakhin, CTO of Shopify, who will also serve as Toloka’s executive chairman. Parakhin emphasized the urgent global demand for trusted AI data solutions.

In late 2023, Nvidia invested in a $700 million private placement in Nebius, highlighting growing institutional interest in AI infrastructure and tools.

With this latest funding round:

  • Bezos Expeditions and other new investors gain equity

  • Nebius retains a majority economic stake, but gives up majority voting control, enabling Toloka to operate independently

  • A future funding round is anticipated, Megorskaya said

The investment underscores a broader trend of scaling AI companies focused on high-quality data pipelines, as tech giants like Amazon, Microsoft, and Anthropic increasingly rely on curated training datasets for safe and effective AI model development.

AMD Warns of $1.5 Billion Revenue Hit from U.S. China Chip Export Curbs, But AI Demand Remains Strong

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Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) warned on Tuesday that new U.S. restrictions on AI chip exports to China will cost the company $1.5 billion in revenue for 2025, as Washington intensifies efforts to limit China’s access to advanced technology. Despite the projected hit, AMD’s second-quarter revenue forecast surpassed Wall Street expectations, buoyed by early chip purchases from customers bracing for trade disruptions.

The Biden and Trump administrations have both ramped up controls on exports of high-performance chips to China, citing national security risks related to AI capabilities. These measures now require chipmakers like AMD and Nvidia to obtain export licenses, effectively slowing or blocking shipments of advanced processors.

CEO Lisa Su said most of the export-related impact will be felt in Q2 and Q3, but expressed confidence in broader business strength. “It’s certainly a headwind, but one which we think is well contained,” Su said, noting that AI chip revenue in AMD’s data center segment is expected to grow by “strong double digits” this year.

China represents about 25% of AMD’s total revenue, and the export curbs are expected to shave nearly 5% off 2025 revenue projections, which currently sit at $31.03 billion, per LSEG data.

In Q1, AMD reported:

  • Total revenue of $7.44 billion, up 36% year-over-year, beating the estimate of $7.25 billion

  • Adjusted earnings of 96 cents per share, 2 cents above consensus

  • Data center revenue surged 57% to $3.7 billion, above the $3.62 billion estimate

For Q2, AMD expects revenue of $7.4 billion ± $300 million, also ahead of forecasts. However, the company is still absorbing an $800 million charge due to April’s newly enacted tariffs.

CFO Jean Hu confirmed the $1.5 billion forecasted revenue loss is tied directly to the latest April export controls. Analysts suggest the current surge in orders reflects “pre-buying behavior” from large cloud clients like Microsoft and Meta, who are stockpiling chips ahead of licensing uncertainty.

“Once those safety-stock closets are full, Q3 could feel like the morning after a Red Bull binge,”
warned Michael Schulman, CIO at Running Point Capital.

Meanwhile, rivals Marvell Technology and Super Micro both disappointed investors, citing economic uncertainty and reduced AI-related optimism. Their shares fell 4.5% and 5%, respectively, in after-hours trading.

AMD’s solid results highlight its growing role in powering AI infrastructure for hyperscalers, even as trade tensions and tariffs loom over the semiconductor industry.