Microsoft President Brad Smith has reportedly shared advice for tech companies planning to build data centres in the US. According to a report by the news agency Reuters, Smith said technology companies must secure and maintain the trust of local American communities to move forward with data centre projects in the US. This advice comes as resistance to such developments grows across several regions. Speaking at the CERAWeek conference in Houston this week, Smith emphasised that community approval has become central to expansion plans, particularly as concerns rise over electricity demand, higher power bills, water usage and pollution linked to supporting infrastructure growth, the Reuters report noted.During the conference (as reviewed by Reuters), Smith said, “You have to win over the local community and sustain their trust if you are going to build a (data center. Obviously what you are seeing in the United States is now a concern about data centers.”The rapid expansion of Big Tech data centres has increased scrutiny from states and local authorities, with opposition in parts of the Midwest and Northeast leading to the cancellation of some projects in recent months over environmental and cost-related concerns.
Donald Trump makes Microsoft and other companies sign data centre energy commitment
Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump gathered executives from Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, OpenAI, Oracle and xAI at the White House to sign a “Ratepayer Protection Pledge.” This is a voluntary commitment under which companies will cover the electricity costs of their AI data centres rather than pass them on to households.“They need some PR help because people think that if a data centre goes in there, electricity prices are going to go up. It’s not going to happen. And for the areas where it did happen, it won’t happen anymore,” Trump said at the event.The pledge builds on commitments already made by some companies, including Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic, in recent months. Under the agreement, the seven signatories plan to build, buy, or arrange their own power generation for data centres, fund grid infrastructure upgrades, and negotiate separate electricity rate structures with utilities and state governments so that residential consumers are not charged for these costs.The announcement comes as electricity prices in the US have risen by 6.3% over the past year, according to the Consumer Price Index from the Labour Department, with data centres contributing to demand. A Bloomberg analysis found that in areas near major data centres, monthly electricity costs have increased by up to 267% over the past 5 years. Community opposition has also affected project pipelines, with at least 25 proposed data centre developments cancelled last year, while lawmakers in Missouri, Ohio and Oklahoma have considered pauses or restrictions on new construction.Data centres currently account for about 5% of US electricity use, and that share could reach 17% by 2030 as AI-related workloads expand, according to the Electric Power Research Institute. The International Energy Agency estimates that US data centre electricity demand will grow from 200 terawatt-hours to 640 terawatt-hours annually by 2035. This projected increase, along with an ageing power grid where much of the transmission infrastructure is over 40 years old, has brought electricity costs to the forefront as a policy issue ahead of midterm elections.
