AI runs on electricity, and defense AI needs power that can't be cut off. Here is how AI Arsenals is thinking about sovereign, behind-the-meter power, and why it is evaluating a portfolio of options rather than a single bet.
Most of the public conversation about artificial intelligence focuses on chips and models. Inside the industry, the conversation has shifted to something more basic: power. The newest AI data centers need enormous, reliable supplies of electricity.
For defense AI, power has to be reliable, secure and under the operator's control. That is why sovereign power is central to the work of AI Arsenals, a portfolio company and strategic partner of Complete Defense Solutions.
The Department of War is leading on sovereign power
The Department of War is already showing what sovereign power for the military can look like. Through its Janus Program, the U.S. Army selected five nuclear energy vendors and five initial locations to build and operate nuclear microreactors. The Army says the program will field microreactors capable of operating independently of the civilian power grid, ensuring uninterrupted power for forces in any environment, in collaboration with the Department of Energy.
The Army has described Janus as a substantial investment in military and national energy dominance. Fox Business reported that the program is awarding up to a combined $2.2 billion to strengthen energy resilience, with reactors of 1 to 20 megawatts planned for installations across the country.
That is the same principle behind AI Arsenals: mission-critical power that doesn't depend on the shared grid.
No single answer
There is no one perfect power source for every site. Each has strengths and trade-offs in cost, speed to deploy, footprint and reliability. Rather than betting on one technology, AI Arsenals is exploring a portfolio of behind-the-meter options for future AI data center projects:
- Natural gas turbines, a proven way to generate large amounts of firm power on site
- Nuclear, including small modular reactors and smaller micro and nano reactors designed to provide steady power in a compact, transportable form
- Hydroelectric power, which can provide long-lived, low-cost generation where geography allows
- Solar paired with storage technologies, including solar thermal approaches and hydrogen, which aim to deliver dependable power beyond daylight hours
These investments are prospective. AI Arsenals has not completed investments in the companies it is evaluating, and we aren't naming them here.
Pressure-testing every decision
Choosing the right technology, and the right companies, is where experience matters. AI Arsenals has added advisors from major compute and telecommunications companies, senior leaders with decades of data center experience, to help identify the best sovereign compute and power solutions and to test each decision for both technical soundness and investment merit.
From power to compute
Power is the foundation. On top of it, AI Arsenals plans secured, SCIF-grade AI compute for defense customers, both inside our group and beyond it. It also plans modular, containerized secured compute that can be deployed to military bases, naval vessels and National Guard units, with the intent to manufacture those containers in the United States.
Why this matters to our shareholders
Sovereign AI is one spoke of the Complete Financial Solutions flywheel. As the Department of War invests in resilient power and AI, access to secured compute and dependable power becomes part of what helps defense companies compete. Building that capability carefully, one sound decision at a time, is the work ahead.
Sources
- U.S. Department of War, "Army Selects Vendors, Sites for Nuclear Microreactors," war.gov
- U.S. Army, "The Janus Program: Fueling the Army's future with resilient, on-demand nuclear energy," army.mil
- U.S. Army, "Army announces Janus Program for next-generation nuclear energy," army.mil
- Fox Business, "Army Janus Program awards $2.2B for nuclear microreactors at 5 bases," foxbusiness.com
- Utility Dive, "US Army selects 5 companies to deploy microreactors at military installations," utilitydive.com
Forward-looking statements: This article contains forward-looking statements about AI Arsenals' plans, prospective investments and technologies, and about Complete Financial Solutions, Inc.'s related strategy. AI Arsenals has not completed investments in the power companies it is evaluating. These statements involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially. No investment, project or contract is assured. References to third-party sources do not imply any relationship with or endorsement by those organizations.