Microsoft announces a glut of new data centers but says it won’t let its electricity bill go up

Although the public backlash against data centers has been intense over the past 12 months, all major companies in the technology industry have promised additional build-out of AI infrastructure in the coming year. That includes OpenAI partner Microsoft, which on Tuesday announced what it calls a “community first” approach to AI infrastructure.

Microsoft’s announcement, which comes just one day after Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta would launch its own AI infrastructure software, is not unexpected. Last year, the company announced that it plans to spend billions to expand its AI capability. What’s a bit unusual are the promises the company has now made about how it will handle this build.

Microsoft on Tuesday promised to take “necessary steps to be a good neighbor in the communities where we build, own, and operate our data centers.” This includes, according to the company, its plans to “pay our own way” to ensure local electricity bills do not rise to the highest levels in the places where it builds. Specifically, the company says it will work with local utility companies to ensure that the rates they pay cover their full share of their burden on the local grid.

“We will work closely with the utility companies that set electricity prices and the government committees that approve these prices,” Microsoft said. “Our goal is clear and straightforward: to ensure that the cost of electricity to serve our data centers is not passed on to residential customers.”

The company also promised to create job opportunities in the communities where it is located, in addition to reducing the amount of water its centers need to operate. Data centers’ water use has clearly been a controversial topic, with data centers accused of creating fundamental problems for local water supplies and raising other environmental concerns. The promise of job creation is also important, given lingering questions about the number of short-term and permanent jobs such projects typically create.

It’s pretty clear why Microsoft feels it’s necessary to make these promises now. The construction of data centers has become a political flashpoint in recent years, leading to backlash and intense protests from local communities. Data Center Watch, an organization that tracks anti-data center activism, notes that there are as many as 142 different activist groups in 24 states currently organizing against such developments.

This backlash has already affected Microsoft directly. In October, the company abandoned its plans for a new data center in Caledonia, Wisconsin, after “community feedback” was overwhelmingly negative. Meanwhile, in Michigan, the company’s plans for a similar project in a small central town inspired locals to take to the streets in protest. On Tuesday, around the same time that Microsoft announced its “Good Neighbor” pledge, an op-ed in an Ohio newspaper (where Microsoft is currently developing several data centers) criticized the company, blaming it and its peers for climate change.

Concerns have even extended to the White House, where enhancing artificial intelligence has become one of the main tenets of the Trump administration. On Monday, President Trump took to social media to pledge that Microsoft will specifically make “big changes” to ensure Americans’ electricity bills don’t go up. Trump said the changes “will ensure that Americans do not pay their energy bill.”

In short, Microsoft now realizes that it is fighting a wave of negative public opinion. It remains to be seen whether the company’s new guarantees regarding jobs, environmental care, and lower electricity bills will be enough to turn the tide.