Donald Trump said he is partnering with tech companies to ensure that large energy-hungry datacenters critical to AI do not drive up power bills in the US. On Tuesday, the US President declared that Microsoft is “in first place”.
“We are the ‘hottest’ country in the world, and number one in AI. Data centers are the key to that boom, and keep Americans free and safe, but, the big technology companies that build them have to ‘pay their way.'” Trump wrote Truth on Social. “Thank you, and congratulations to Microsoft.”
Microsoft President Brad Smith outlined the company’s plan at an event called Community-First AI Infrastructure near the White House on Tuesday. He said the initiative aims to reduce water usage and ensure that Microsoft’s electricity usage does not increase individuals’ utility rates. In cities where Microsoft has datacenters, the company will pay its property taxes and will accept neither tax cuts nor power tariff rebates, he said.
“Like major construction projects of the past, AI infrastructure is expensive and complex,” Smith wrote in an article. blog post On Tuesday. “It revives a long-standing question: How can our nation build transformative infrastructure in a way that strengthens rather than strains the local communities where it takes root?”
Trump has embraced AI during his second term, hosting tech CEOs at the White House and Mar-a-Lago. He has signed executive orders to speed up federal permitting for datacenters, regulate AI, accelerate innovation, and ease environmental regulations. But as concerns over affordability and a backlash against datacenters have spread across the country, Trump appears to be changing his stance.
Trump said he is starting his electric bill reduction plan with Microsoft, but he is also working with other major tech companies to make similar pledges.
As datacenters have mushroomed across the country, local communities have protested the projects, saying the facilities are increasing electricity costs, draining water resources and polluting neighborhoods. The outrage is bipartisan — extending from red states like Oklahoma, Tennessee and Louisiana to blue states like Oregon, California and New York. In rural Wisconsin, Microsoft Plans for new datacenter canceled Following community protests that included concerns over rising electricity tariffs.
Datacenters consume huge amounts of electricity and water, and facilities geared toward AI are particularly intensive. A large-scale datacenter can use as much electricity as a small city and consume one million gallons of water per day. International Energy Agency estimates total electricity from data centers around the world may double by 2026 By 2022 levels – approximately equal to the amount used per year by the entire country of Japan.
Microsoft has seen its carbon emissions increase by 23% from 2020 as its AI datacenters grow. Other tech companies, including Google, Amazon and Meta, have also seen their emissions rise significantly due to the boom in AI.
