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The 2026 INCOMPAS Policy Summit delivered an urgent message: America's leadership in artificial intelligence (AI) hinges on our ability to build the infrastructure to power it—and competition and innovation must remain at the heart of that effort. Last week in Washington, D.C., a powerhouse lineup of lawmakers, regulators and industry leaders converged to confront the regulatory bottlenecks and energy challenges threatening both current and future infrastructure deployment.
Breaking the Permitting Logjam
Permitting reform was the heartbeat of the Summit, as speakers emphasized that competitive providers cannot innovate if regulatory barriers block their path to deployment. With major projects currently trapped in four- to six-year approval loops and railroad crossings taking up to 15 months, leaders warned that regulatory red tape is effectively handing an advantage to global competitors.
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Legislative Momentum: Lawmakers highlighted the SPEED, RAIL and PERMIT Acts as primary vehicles to streamline deployment and lower barriers to entry for competitive providers.
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The Consolidated Solution: Federal Permitting Council Executive Director Emily Domenech made waves by unveiling the Council process that treats power plants, transmission lines, and data centers as consolidated projects. This approach is expected to slash project timelines by 25%, directly enabling the kind of competitive infrastructure deployment that drives innovation.
Powering the AI Revolution
The Summit's focus on energy underscored a core principle: Innovation requires infrastructure and competitive markets require access to the resources that power them. AI infrastructure is as much about grids as it is about glass.
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"All-Source" Energy: Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA) called for an aggressive energy strategy spanning nuclear, renewables, and fossil fuels to meet the unprecedented energy demand of AI and ensure competitive providers have the power capacity needed to deploy next-generation networks.
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Data Centers Benefitting Communities: Industry leaders stressed that data center investments drive local prosperity through high-wage jobs and grid modernization that benefits entire communities, while Microsoft detailed community-centric approaches to address concerns about water usage and energy consumption through closed-loop systems and on-site power generation.
Competition as the Foundation for AI's Future
FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty's remarks reinforced INCOMPAS's founding principles, stating that "competition and innovation have been central to communications policy for decades" and warning that "concentration, whether in computing power to run AI, data or connectivity, can limit innovation and raise barriers to entry." She emphasized that competitive providers are essential to building the resilient, redundant networks AI demands—and that policy frameworks must promote investment rather than entrenchment.
Honoring Our Roots, Building the Future
While the focus was on the future, the Summit also paused to commemorate the 30th Anniversary of the 1996 Telecommunications Act—legislation grounded in the principle that competition drives better outcomes for consumers and businesses alike—and to honor the pioneers who built the competitive landscape we stand on today.
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Pivotal Years Ahead: Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) and INCOMPAS CEO Chip Pickering took the stage for a reflection on the Act's significance. They issued a stirring call to action, noting that while the Act defined the last 30 years, the decisions made in the next three to five years will be the absolute "pivot point" that determines whether competition and innovation continue to define American leadership for the next three decades.
The 2026 Summit demonstrated that while technologies evolve, the mission endures: unleashing American innovation through competition, investment, and the political courage to modernize regulations from a bygone era.
Watch our keynotes and panel discussions:
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