According to news on March 5, Google, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon and several artificial intelligence companies signed a commitment at the White House on Wednesday, agreeing to bear the cost of new electricity required to power their data centers. The move is intended to ease public concerns. Currently, Donald Trump's administration is working to curb inflation amid concerns that data centers owned by big tech companies are driving up electricity bills for American households and small businesses.
"This means technology companies and data centers will get the power they need without increasing the burden on consumers at all!" Trump said at the signing ceremony. "This is a historic victory for countless American families! We will also make the power grid stronger and more resilient than ever before!"
The initiative, known as the Customer Protection Pledge, was first announced by Trump in his State of the Union Address. At the same time, local communities and state legislators are increasing scrutiny of rapidly expanding data centers.
Data centers consume massive amounts of electricity while running server racks and cooling systems to support the development of technologies such as AI.
"Because of this, some data centers were rejected by the community. But now, the situation will be completely reversed!" Trump said. He was referring to the cancellation or postponement of projects in several states in recent months due to local opposition.
The pledge includes a number of guarantees from technology companies: to supply or purchase electricity through new or expanded power plants; to pay for transmission system upgrades; and to enter into special power rate agreements with utility companies.
A Trump administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the move was aimed at winning support from towns that had previously opposed such projects. "No new data center development will begin until the local community understands and recognizes the content of this commitment," the official said.
Oracle, xAI and OpenAI also attended and signed the pledge.
The White House event included a number of technology giants who are investing billions of dollars in building new, power-hungry AI computing capabilities.
Trump urged the companies to build or secure dedicated power supplies to meet demand rather than rely solely on regional grids.
However, Jon Gordon, director of Advanced Energy United, a clean energy industry group, said it was unclear whether the move could increase power supply quickly enough to relieve pressure on the grid. The organization also includes some data center operators as members.
That's partly because Trump's policy focus is on using natural gas and other fossil fuels to power data centers rather than building faster solar and wind facilities, he added.
“The problem is that the power generation facilities are coming into operation too slowly to meet the needs of the data center,” Gordon said. “Even if hyperscale cloud service providers invest in construction, they cannot speed up the speed of power production.”
Supporters and critics alike will be watching closely to see whether the pledge delivers tangible results or remains symbolic. Lawmakers and consumer groups have previously called for stronger safeguards to prevent rising electricity bills due to data center expansion.