President Donald Trump and at least one Big Tech firm are on the same page about who should pay for the higher electricity costs tied to the surge in artificial intelligence data center development.
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Microsoft pledged to pay for the electricity its data centers use and take steps to prevent cost increases for consumers, company President Brad Smith wrote in a Tuesday blog post.
“We’ll ask utilities and public commissions to set our rates high enough to cover the electricity costs for our data centers,” Smith said.
The post outlines a five-step data center plan that includes minimizing water use, creating new jobs and contributing to local tax bases. It also says Microsoft will collaborate with utilities early on to ensure they have capacity for new data centers and pursue higher efficiency to minimize the impact on the grid.
Trump said Microsoft will be the first of several major firms to launch similar initiatives in a Monday night social media post.
“I never want Americans to pay higher Electricity bills because of Data Centers,” he wrote in the post.
Data centers became a hot-button political issue last year due in large part to concerns over AI facilities increasing electricity costs for households. Several states have targeted the industry with new regulations, and members of Congress have taken notice.
Last month, a group of U.S. Senate Democrats launched an investigation into how data centers impact consumer electricity bills. Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont went as far as calling for a moratorium on new data center construction.
Some tech giants have pushed back on the narrative that their data centers are causing a spike in electricity prices.
Amazon published a study last month with the headline “Amazon data centers aren’t raising your electricity bills.” It included a report that Amazon commissioned from research firm E3 concluding that the e-commerce behemoth pays its own way when it comes to data center electricity costs.
Meta launched an ad campaign featuring rural residents discussing the positive economic impact data centers have had on their communities. The social media giant reportedly spent $5M on the effort in just one month.
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