Trump Demands Public Pledge from Big Tech to Shoulder AI Data Center Power Bills

No Legal Force or Enforcement Mechanism
Aimed at Soothing Public Discontent Ahead of Midterm Elections

On the 24th (local time), Trump Donald, President of the United States, is delivering a State of the Union address at the United States Capitol. AP Yonhap News

U.S. President Donald Trump has asked major big tech companies to make a public pledge that they will directly bear the electricity costs of artificial intelligence (AI) data centers. Although the pledge is not legally binding and there is no legal basis to force utilities to collect such charges from the companies, the move is seen as an attempt to soothe public discontent over electricity bills ahead of the midterm elections in November.

On the 25th (local time), Bloomberg News, citing White House officials, reported, "President Trump plans to invite representatives from major big tech companies such as Amazon, Meta, Microsoft (MS), and Alphabet, the parent company of Google, to the White House on the 4th of next month for an event on a 'Pledge to Protect Against Higher Electricity Bills'," adding, "This pledge is not legally binding and there is no enforcement mechanism, but it is expected to help ease consumer concerns that the expansion of data centers is leading to higher electricity bills."

This measure is interpreted as being driven by voter dissatisfaction over recent electricity rate hikes ahead of the midterm elections in November. During the 2024 presidential election, President Trump pledged to cut electricity bills in half, but power rates have instead risen. In December last year, the average U.S. retail electricity rate was 17.24 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh), up 6% from a year earlier.

In his State of the Union address at the Capitol the previous day, President Trump also highlighted the expansion of data centers as an opportunity to lower electricity bills and improve the power grid, stressing that "if large technology companies build their own power plants, local communities could see a substantial reduction in their electricity bills."

The main factor driving the burden of higher electricity bills is believed to be AI data centers being established across the United States. The data centers that big tech companies are competitively building consume massive amounts of power and water, and have been clashing with local communities in the United States. According to a public opinion poll commissioned by the climate group Climate Power, 64% of voters cited the burden of utility bills as their top concern related to data center development.

However, there are concerns that a nonbinding public pledge that relies on corporate voluntary action will be insufficient to rein in electricity rate increases. Jessie Lee, senior advisor at Climate Power, told Bloomberg News, "Instead of empty promises, we need to move to secure additional power sources to meet surging electricity demand."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.