Outside our nation’s capital, in a little-known suburb, a critical center of commerce is emerging – one projected to unlock a $1 trillion market by 2027 according to Bain and Co.
It’s growing amid rolling hills, in what used to be farmland – blending as well as it can into an environment still populated mostly by horse farms and wineries.
Business is booming in this new center, but you might never guess it while driving through the area.
The buildings look like ordinary warehouses.
But with extremely tight security.
Because the future of the Artificial Intelligence boom lies inside.
Welcome to “Data Center Alley” in Loudon County, Va. – only about a two-hour drive from our InvestorPlace offices. This area houses 133 of the 471 data centers located in Virginia, which boasts the highest number of data centers in the U.S.
Local energy provider Dominion Power reported that data centers now account for 24% of the company’s total electricity sales in the state.
Why are data centers so important?
For many reasons you probably can imagine but don’t often think about.
Data centers provide the computational power, storage space, and networking that AI needs to train and run models effectively.
They are also the backbone behind social media, navigation apps and the ride sharing apps on your phone.
Northern Virginia is considered by some to be the data center capital of the world. It is considered the largest data center market not only in the United States, but globally.
And with Donald Trump’s victory, the market is going to get even busier.
What a Trump Administration Means for AI
Big tech executives rushed to congratulate Trump in the wake of Tuesday’s resounding victory over Vice President Kamala Harris.
Apple CEO Tim Cook posted on X:
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted on Instagram,
Trump’s relationship with big tech hasn’t always been friendly.
In his book “Save America,” Trump accused Zuckerberg of plotting against him and threatened him with “life in prison” if it happened again.
However, Trump has made clear his determination that the U.S. lead the world in the global AI race.
In his first administration, Trump sought to hinder China’s AI development by limiting access to the chips needed for AI development – a stance likely to continue if a trade war breaks out between the countries again.
Trump has also promised to repeal a Biden Administration Executive Order that tried to place guardrails around AI technologies.
Trump stated that on “day one” he would cancel the order and “ban the use of AI to censor the speech of American citizens.”
The Center for AI Policy, a nonpartisan research organization dedicated to mitigating the catastrophic risks of AI through policy development and advocacy, released a statement Thursday saying it expects a Trump administration to favor more industry self-regulation through voluntary commitments rather than the Biden Administration’s government-led efforts.
Given that AI has been the macro investing trend driving this bull market, it’s easy to conclude that things are only going to accelerate.
That’s what investing legend Louis Navellier predicted back in May, when he predicted Trump would win the race. Here is a sample of what he said back then.
While the stock market is roaring right now…
It’s just a preview of what’s to come when Trump is re-elected.
Because Donald Trump is all about business.
And when he returns to the Oval Office, his first act could be rocket-fuel for an already hot market.
Trump’s first term started the AI boom
Louis points to some specific actions you may have forgotten.
Trump’s many accomplishments have been buried behind a bunch of trivial complaints, drummed up by his liberal rivals.
But look closer, and Trump’s fingerprints are all over the current boom in technology.
In fact, the rise of AI can be traced back to an Executive Order issued by Trump in 2019.
It’s not a stretch to say that without Executive Order 13859
We don’t have a bull market in AI stocks.
EO 13859, called Maintaining American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence, helped double AI research investment and created the first regulatory structure for AI – a move that predates the emergence of ChatGPT…
Louis continued:
Private AI investment jumped – and so did the progress of the technology.
Trump also agreed to make more government data available for machine learning and AI.
This is the same data used to help train Large Language Models like ChatGPT.
This Executive Order is what created the environment for ChatGPT’s owner, OpenAI, to get funding from Microsoft – starting with $1 billion in 2019.
The AI chatbot took the world by storm and thrust AI into the spotlight.
Louis has had the AI story right for some time. In his Growth Investor service, he recommended Nvidia (NVDA) in 2019, which has since soared 30X.
Now, Louis believes that a Trump Administration will usher in a second boom for AI stocks.
The big returns seen from Nvidia and other chip makers could pale in comparison to what’s coming.
Louis sees six specific AI stocks that will benefit from this coming boom, and a huge part of the story starts in the small suburb in Northern Virginia.
Because for AI to flourish, we’ll need more data centers and more power.
Trump is determined that the U.S. lead the way in AI technology, and investors aligned with this trend could see substantial returns.
But you still have to choose your investments carefully.
Louis can help in his Growth Investor service.
Enjoy your weekend.
Luis Hernandez
Editor in Chief, InvestorPlace
