March 19 (Reuters) - Nvidia ( NVDA ) and Elon Musk's xAI have

joined a consortium backed by Microsoft ( MSFT ) and BlackRock ( BLK ) to expand

artificial intelligence infrastructure in the U.S., the

companies said on Wednesday, as a global race to dominate the

nascent technology intensifies.

The group, formed last year with a goal to initially invest

more than $30 billion in AI-related projects, is one of the

biggest efforts to bankroll data centers and energy facilities

needed to power AI applications such as ChatGPT.

The additions come two months after U.S. President Donald

Trump announced Stargate, a private sector AI infrastructure

initiative backed by SoftBank Group, OpenAI and Oracle

, with plans to mobilize up to $500 billion.

Investors have committed $100 billion for immediate

deployment, with the rest expected over the next four years.

The consortium- which includes Abu Dhabi-backed investment

firm MGX and BlackRock's ( BLK ) Global Infrastructure Partners

- on Wednesday renamed itself as AI Infrastructure Partnership.

Nvidia ( NVDA ), a technical advisor, will continue in the role.

Training AI models and large-scale data processing require

huge computational power, which increases energy consumption. To

meet the demands, tech companies are deploying thousands of

chips in clusters, driving a surge for specialized data centers.

To fund the computing and power needs, the consortium has

been looking to raise money from investors, asset owners and

corporations, with a goal to mobilize up to $100 billion,

including debt financing.

"AIP has attracted significant capital and partner interest

since its inception in September," the group said, but did not

disclose the total funds raised so far.

GE Vernova ( GEV ) and utility firm NextEra Energy ( NEE/PN )

will also be a part of the group, it said, adding the renewable

energy company will work on supply-chain planning and high

efficiency energy solutions.

AIP said its investments will also focus on U.S. partners

and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun

Koyyur)