Jeff Bezos wants regulators to put down the scissors. In a CNBC interview Thursday, the Amazon founder compared proposed data center restrictions to outlawing knives — a blunt tool that misses the point. “You don’t want to accidentally outlaw the knife because it can be used in a bad way,” he said. The analogy came as his new venture, Prometheus, closed a $12 billion Series B, pushing its valuation to roughly $41 billion. Investors included JPMorgan, BlackRock, and Goldman Sachs.
Prometheus, co-founded with former Verily co-founder Vik Bajaj, isn’t chasing chatbots. The company trains AI on proprietary engineering datasets — think chip fab simulations, aerospace CAD files, and manufacturing logs. The goal is an “artificial general engineer” that compresses design cycles by 10x or more. Bezos sees applications from hyperscaler data center optimization to automotive and spacecraft design. Prometheus pulls compute from multiple cloud providers and may eventually become an AWS customer, though the companies will stay at arm’s length.
The timing is deliberate. Data centers already consume roughly 485 TWh annually, with the International Energy Agency projecting a jump to 950 TWh by 2030. At least 27 U.S. states have introduced bills targeting energy costs, reporting requirements, or outright moratoriums. California, Ohio, and Utah have enacted laws that go beyond voluntary federal pledges. The European Union’s Data Centre Energy Efficiency Package, expected early 2026, will mandate power usage effectiveness and water metrics.
Bezos argues for targeted regulation — model the FAA and FDA, not a blanket ban. “Government rules serve real purposes,” he said, pointing to safety and product quality. Blanket restrictions on data center construction would stall the very innovation that could ease the energy bottleneck. Prometheus’s technology, for instance, could help operators design more efficient cooling, chip architectures, and power distribution.
Critics note that massive funding rounds concentrate power among a few players. Prometheus employs just 120–150 people but commands a $41B valuation. Success could reshape everything from processor design to factory automation. The company is exploring a holding structure to acquire firms positioned to benefit or face disruption from these tools.
Bezos acknowledges the tension. AI needs compute; compute needs power; the grid strains under the load. But prohibition isn’t the answer. “Regulate the misuse, not the tool,” he said. “Keep the knives. Improve how they get made and used.”
Source: Webpronews