Evaluates and ranks U.S. states on their readiness for AI infrastructure deployment, measuring factors like energy availability, broadband capacity, talent pools, regulatory conditions, and environmental resilience.
Problem
The growth of AI depends on robust underlying infrastructure—energy availability, network capacity, talent pools, regulatory conditions, and environmental resilience. However, there is no simple way to compare how prepared each U.S. state is to support new AI data centers or high-performance compute clusters. Public information is scattered across energy datasets, workforce statistics, broadband rankings, and policy documents, making it difficult for companies, policymakers, and researchers to identify which states are best positioned for future AI infrastructure investment.
Overview
This project develops a comprehensive "AI Infrastructure Readiness Index" that scores and ranks U.S. states based on their suitability for hosting next-generation AI infrastructure. It integrates factors such as electricity pricing, renewable energy availability, broadband capacity, water stress, workforce depth, and technology-friendly policy environments. The goal is to highlight where AI infrastructure is most likely to thrive and provide a data-driven foundation for strategic planning at the state level.
How It Works (Approach)
The system compiles publicly available datasets from the Census, BLS, EIA, FCC, DataUSA, and environmental databases. Each U.S. state is evaluated across multiple dimensions—energy, connectivity, talent, environmental risk, cost, and regulatory climate. These metrics are normalized, weighted, and combined into a single readiness score for each state. The project includes an interactive dashboard that visualizes state rankings, compares states across dimensions, and shows how different factors drive overall readiness.
Impact / Value
The AI Infrastructure Readiness Index helps companies assess where to expand data center capacity within the United States, enables state policymakers to understand their competitiveness in the AI economy, and provides researchers with a clear, interpretable model of infrastructure readiness. By synthesizing fragmented public datasets into a single framework, the project brings transparency to the emerging geography of AI development across U.S. states.
Key Features
- State-level AI infrastructure readiness scoring
- Multi-dimensional index (energy, connectivity, talent, regulation, cost, environment)
- Interactive map and ranking dashboard
- Driver analysis to identify strengths and weaknesses
- Public data integration with fully transparent methodology