(Bloomberg) -- 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.

Most Read from Bloomberg

• Dubai Grinds to Standstill as Flooding Hits City

• Elon Wants His Money Back

• Record Rainfall in Dubai? Blame Climate Change, Not Cloud Seeding

• Singapore Loses ‘World’s Best Airport’ Crown to Qatar

• Red Lobster Considers Bankruptcy to Deal With Leases and Labor Costs

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 billion deal, is itself bankrolling the development of massive structures across the US that will handle crucial computing needs. Schwarzman said the vast amount of power these centers use presented an investment opportunity.

“Different states in the US are starting to run out of electricity,” the co-founder and chairman of the world’s largest alternative asset manager said. “That lack of capacity in the electric grids in the industrial world with AI and EVs is creating enormous investment opportunities.”

Schwarzman said QTS has been “extremely successful.”

“You’ll be able to create 20% returns building these data centers with 30 year contracts,” he said. “This is pretty amazing.”

Schwarzman also warned about AI, saying almost everyone he knows is concerned about what might go wrong with the technology, and that it was the first time he’s seen business people rooting for regulation.

“It’s not for your children or grandchildren, it’s going to happen on your watch,” Schwarzman said. “The people who are scared of the technology, really are the people inventing it.”

Schwarzman said he was recently talking to Chinese President Xi Jinping who said there needs to be a global standard, because it doesn’t work when some countries have rules and others don’t.

(Updates and adds comment throughout)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

• What Really Happens When You Trade In an iPhone at the Apple Store

• Aging Copper Mines Are Turning Into Money Pits Despite Demand

• Rents Are the Fed’s ‘Biggest Stumbling Block’ in Taming US Inflation

• For Multinationals, Africa’s Allure Is Fading

• The AI Chatbot That Could Transform Business School Accreditation

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.