As he has many times in the past, Gov. Phil Murphy referenced a ‘seminal’ trip he, the first lady and members of his administration took to Silicon Valley a few years back to learn more about what was then just the beginning of the now exploding AI industry.
“California is a great American state, has got a great governor — I can’t say enough good things about California,” he told an audience of AI leaders during a Financial Times AI Summit Thursday in London.
“But when (we asked) this group of wise men and women in the AI space: Why are you in the Bay Area? We got a long list of reasons why they’d prefer not to be in the Bay Area. The default was talent.”
Murphy said he thought to himself: We’ve got that talent, too.
The governor said he quickly ramped up efforts to help draw companies to that talent — the biggest being the creation of a hub for AI research and innovation at Princeton University.
“You’re known by the company you keep, and the fact that the state of New Jersey is in business with Princeton University is a statement, a volitional, intentional statement that we need business around the development of this realm,” he told an audience of a few hundred — at an event being live-streamed around the world. “We’re already seeing evidence of it.”
Murphy pointed to the recent announcement that CoreWeave, a leading global AI company, not only made a commitment to stay in New Jersey but to expand its presence.
Combining CoreWeave with Princeton is a recipe for economic development of an AI ecosystem, Murphy told the crowd.
“You’re starting to see spider webbing,” he said.
Murphy pointed to rich tax incentive programs the state is offering around AI, noted that the state has made a commitment to train its 61,000-member workforce in AI —and said the state is working with its biggest energy company, PSEG, to ensure the state will be able to meet the energy demands the industry requires.
Murphy pointed to PSEG Chair and CEO Ralph LaRossa, who was in the room, not only representing PSEG but Choose New Jersey, the state’s economic development organization that is sponsoring Murphy’s five-day economic mission trip to the United Kingdom.
“I think it’s fair to say we’re discussing: How do we reconsider nuclear capacity in New Jersey, which is the most densely populated state in America, but that’s exactly what we’re doing right now,” he said.
The New Jersey market — Murphy said New York City needs to be considered a part of it — should be seen as a place to go for current and next-generation AI companies.
“We’re seeing real upscale opportunities,” he said. “I think we’re leading the nation in that respect.”
It’s a race that needs more participants, Murphy said.
“We’re trying to disintermediate sort of three of the biggest supply-demand imbalances that I’ve ever seen,” he told the conference. “I’m a recovering banker and diplomat, and in my years in most professions, as well as currently as governor, I’ve never seen supply-demand imbalances like this in increasing order and increasing magnitude: AI-ready talent versus the demand for that talent, compute capacity versus the demand for that capacity, and energy demand versus embedded energy capacity.”
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Murphy said New Jersey is ready to compete. And, to be clear, he recognized it has a long way to go to catch Silicon Valley, noting California investment may be 20X the amount of investment in nascent New Jersey market.
New Jersey, however, has an added bonus in its pitch pool. The state, as Murphy has said plenty of times in the past, was Silicon Valley before there was a Silicon Valley.
That’s why Murphy told the crowd that when he flew home from California feeling confident New Jersey had a bright future in AI not only because of its talent, but its long history of innovation.
“I think whoever you are, as a person, as a company, as an institution, as a government, you have to wake up every morning and look in the mirror and be very sober about who you are, who you’re not, what you can be, what you can’t be,” he told the crowd.
“And when we look in the mirror in New Jersey, we see talent, innovation, economy, highly desirable location, and a rich legacy of Thomas Edison (and) Bell Labs.”
