Fetterman aligns with Trump on AI push, warns China benefits from US 'overreaction'

Fetterman shared an article on X highlighting a Bloomberg analysis examining what it described as the narrowing U.S. lead over China in the AI race and the faster pace at which Chinese companies are deploying advanced models.

"AI supremacy and energy dominance underpins our national security," Fetterman wrote.

Fetterman added that pulling back on the emerging technology would only benefit America's competitors.

"China continues to fuel and benefit from our overreaction," he wrote. "I reject the political pandering and hyperbole over data centers or AI doomsdaying."

Saturday's post was Fetterman's latest call for the U.S. to aggressively pursue AI development.

Fetterman's stance puts the Pennsylvania Democrat largely in step with President Donald Trump on the need to accelerate AI development and expand the nation's data center infrastructure.

"America must lead in the development of AI, otherwise we live under China's rules," Fetterman wrote. "That must not happen."

His comments came after Trump earlier this week encouraged governors and local officials to welcome the construction of AI data centers.

"The construction jobs are enormous. We're building the biggest plants anywhere in the world. And I can say, if I were the mayor of a town or the governor of a state, and I had a chance to get a big plant in an AI plant or a data center, I would absolutely want it because the jobs are enormous, and the money paid, the taxes paid are just enormous," Trump said at the White House on Wednesday.

The president also said the AI industry needs "a little public relations help" as Americans have expressed concerns about data centers being built in their communities.

Trump signed an executive order in July aimed at expediting the permitting process for data centers.

Regarding the regulation of AI, Trump suggested the industry "may be bigger than the internet."

"We're leading by a lot with AI. We want to keep it that way. We want to regulate, but we want to have regulation where they can continue to lead, not regulation that's going to stifle a very important industry," Trump said.

Fox News Digital's Alex Nitzberg and James Cirrone contributed to this report.