Trump says Microsoft to make changes to curb data centre power costs

U.S. President Donald ‍Trump said that Microsoft will ‌ make “major changes” this week to ensure U.S. consumers do not pay more for electricity because of data centres’ power consumption. Trump also said that his administration was working with other technology companies ⁠on the issue of high utility bills. In his social media post, Trump said that he never wants ‌Americans to pay ‌higher Electricity bills because of ‍Data Centers and that to secure the commitment of the American People, he ⁠will have much to announce in the coming weeks.

 "I never want Americans to pay higher Electricity bills because of Data Centers. Therefore, my Administration is working with major American Technology Companies to secure their commitment to the American People, and we will have much to announce in the coming weeks," Trump said on Truth Social.

He added, “We are the ‘HOTTEST’ Country in the World, and Number One in AI,” the president wrote. “Data Centers are key to that boom, and keeping Americans FREE and SECURE but, the big Technology Companies who build them must ‘pay their own way.”

Microsoft, Trump said, is the first company up.

On Tuesday, Microsoft announced a plan to build a “Community-First AI Infrastructure” initiative built around five commitments, led by a blunt one: “We’ll pay our way to ensure our datacenters don’t increase your electricity prices.” The company says it will push utilities and state commissions to set its rates “high enough to cover the electricity costs” of serving its facilities — including the infrastructure needed — so those costs are “not passed on to residential customers,” and it says it will pay for transmission and substation upgrades when its growth requires them. The plan also leans hard into the other local pressure point — water — pledging to minimize use, replenish more than it consumes, and publish regional water data, while arguing that asking the public to subsidize profitable tech companies’ AI power needs is “unfair and politically unrealistic.”