Berkshire Hathaway CEO Greg Abel said the company will only provide power for new data centers if other utility customers benefit.
In a wide-ranging interview Wednesday morning with CNBC from Tokyo-where Abel is visiting with several large Japanese trading companies in which Berkshire has investments-the CEO discussed how Berkshire's big utility, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, approaches data centers.
There were no major corporate news developments highlighted by Abel in the interview.
"We're interested in serving hyperscalers only if there is no impact on other customers," he said. Abel noted that in Iowa, where the company is a major electricity provider, about 8% of demand comes from data centers.
He noted the growing pushback in communities across the country against data centers with the impact on power costs a major issue. Berkshire has been less aggressive than other big utilities in doing deals with data-center operators.
Abel also discussed Berkshire's investment in five Japanese trading companies-Itochu, Marubeni, Mitsubishi, Mitsui, and Sumitomo-in which Berkshire holds a total of about $42 billion of stock. Berkshire holds a stake of just over 10% in each of them, up from 5% when the company initially disclosed the investments six years ago.
Abel said Berkshire plans to hold the investments, which were assembled by Chairman Warren Buffett, for "many decades" and the company is open to business relationships with them-it has more than doubled its money in those investments.
Berkshire also invested about $2 billion in Japanese property and casualty insurer Tokio Marine earlier this year and formed a strategic partnership with the company.
He declined to comment on whether Berkshire would participate in financing a potential purchase by Tokio Marine of an Australian or Canadian insurer that has been floated in the media.
Abel discussed Berkshire's investment in Alphabet, now more than 100 million shares worth about $35 billion, which is tied for third with Coca-Cola among the company's largest equity investments behind American Express in second place and Apple as its biggest holding.
He noted the investment was made by Buffett and that he got a call on a Sunday from investment bankers that led to Berkshire buying $10 billion of stock directly from Alphabet as part of an $80 billion capital raise announced on June 1.
Abel declined to go into detail about why Berkshire bought the Alphabet stock, noting its position in artificial intelligence.
The CEO said he met with Buffett on the chairman's 96th birthday on Sunday, Aug. 30 in Omaha before flying to Tokyo. The pair speak regularly.
Abel also was upbeat on the U.S. housing market despite headwinds now from higher rates and affordability issues. Berkshire bought home builder Taylor Morrison in July for $8.5 billion to add to its substantial collection of homebuilding-related businesses including Clayton Home and a large residential real-estate brokerage business.
"I don't see an immediate recovery" in housing, Abel said, adding that it's a business in which Berkshire wants to be invested for the long term.