Although the public backlash against data centers has been strong over the past 12 months, all of the major tech companies have promised additional AI infrastructure in the coming year. That includes OpenAI partner Microsoft, which on Tuesday was announced what it calls a “community-first” approach to AI infrastructure.
Microsoft’s announcement, which comes just a day after Mark Zuckerberg said Meta would launch its own AI infrastructure program, isn’t unexpected. Last year, the company announced that it planned to is spending 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 growth.
On Tuesday, Microsoft promised to take the “steps necessary to be a good neighbor to the communities where we build, own and operate our data centers.” That includes, according to the company, its plans to “pay its own way” to ensure local electricity bills don’t go through the roof in places where it builds. Specifically, the company says it will work with local utilities to ensure the prices it pays fully cover its share of the burden on the local grid.
“We will work closely with utilities that set electricity rates and government commissions that approve those rates,” Microsoft said. “Our goal is simple: to ensure that the cost of electricity to service our data centers is not passed on to residential customers.”
The company has also promised to create jobs in the communities it touches, as well as minimize the amount of water its centers need to operate. Data center water use has obviously been a contentious issue with data centers accused of creating meaningful issues for local water supplies and stimulating others environmental concerns. The promise of jobs is also relevant since it lasts questions around the number of short-term and permanent jobs that such projects typically create.
It’s pretty clear why Microsoft feels it’s necessary to make these promises right now. The construction of data centers has become a political flashpoint in recent years, sparking strong reactions and protests from local communities. Data Center Watch, an organization that monitors anti-data center activism, has was observed that there are as many as 142 different activist groups in 24 states currently organizing against such developments.
This backlash has already directly affected Microsoft. In October, the company abandoned plans for a new data center in Caledonia, Wisconsin, after overwhelmingly negative feedback from the community. In Michigan, meanwhile, the company plans a similar project in a small central city have recently inspired the locals to take to the streets in protest. On Tuesday, around the same time Microsoft announced its “good neighbor” commitment, an op-ed in an Ohio newspaper (where Microsoft is currently located underdeveloped many data center campuses) blasted the company, blaming it and its counterparts for climate change.
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The concerns have even extended to the White House, where the creation of artificial intelligence has become one of the main tenets of the Trump administration. On Monday, President Trump took to social media to promise that Microsoft would specifically “significant changesTo make sure Americans’ electricity bills don’t go up. Trump said The changes would “ensure Americans don’t ‘pick up the tab’ on energy consumption.”
In short, by now, Microsoft has understood that it is fighting a wave of negative public opinion. It remains to be seen whether the company’s new assurances about jobs, environmental stewardship and low electricity bills will be enough to reverse the trend.
