ROME, May 17 Reuters BlackRock is in talks with various governments over ways to fund critical investments to support artificial intelligence AI, including increasing the power supply, the CEO of the world39;s largest asset manager said on Friday.

AI is seen as a major boost to global productivity, but it requires data centres and semiconductor plants that require huge amounts of electricity.

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink spoke remotely at a meeting in Rome of the B7 business groups of the Group of Seven G7 states. The conference preceded next week39;s meeting in Italy of finance ministers and central bankers from the G7 more advanced economies.

These AI data centres are going to require more power than anything we could ever have imagined. We at the G7 do not have enough power, Fink said.

I think this is going to create a real competitive challenge for countries.

Data centres are likely to be built where power supply is cheaper, raising the need for state subsidies in areas where energy costs are not competitive, Fink said.

Investments to build the data centres and chip factories backing AI technologies and power them, which BlackRock estimates in the trillions of dollars, require the participation of private investors and could be a great opportunity for pension funds and insurers, Fink said.

Japan on Tuesday said it envisages the need for electricity output to rise 35 to 50 by 2050 due to growing demand from semiconductor plants and data centres backing AI….