WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will sign an executive order Tuesday to develop artificial intelligence infrastructure on properties operated by the Energy and Defense departments. 

The sites will be leased to private companies for data centers and to generate the renewable electricity necessary to power them.

“Domestic data centers for training and operating powerful AI models will help the United States facilitate AI’s safe and secure development,” Deputy Assistant to the President and Coordinator for Technology and National Security Tarun Chhabra said during a press briefing Monday about the executive order.

“It will also prevent our adversaries from accessing these powerful systems to the detriment of our military and our national security while preventing the United States from growing dependent on other countries to access powerful AI tools.”

Building and powering AI data centers in the U.S. is a national security issue, he said. Currently operating AI systems used for military applications pose significant risks since they involve biological, chemical, radiological and nuclear weapons.

In the coming years, Chhabra said the U.S. expects to face “extraordinary potential national security risks,” especially from the People’s Republic of China, which could use AI to launch a strategic surprise.

He said many other countries are offering subsidies, dirty electricity and weak labor standards to lure American AI infrastructure offshore.

“The U.S. must not repeat the errors of the past by letting critical technologies go overseas,” Deputy Director of the White House Economic Council Navtej Dhillon said. “This is a bipartisan initiative.”