Microsoft announced Tuesday a commitment to pay more for the electricity going to its data centers, just hours after President Donald Trump urged tech companies to make sure they don’t raise costs for everyday Americans in the artificial intelligence race.
In a Truth Social post, Trump said the White House was working with major tech companies to make sure they “pay their own way” when building data centers. First up is Microsoft, which he said was committing to “major changes beginning this week to ensure that Americans don’t ‘pick up the tab’ for their POWER consumption, in the form of paying higher Utility bills.”
Microsoft President Brad Smith expanded on the pledge in a blog post Tuesday, saying that the company would ask utilities and regulators to set rates for the company’s data centers high enough to cover the costs of adding and using the electricity infrastructure needed. The company will also pay for new generation as well as improvements in transmission and distribution capabilities as needed.
“Our goal is straightforward: to ensure that the electricity cost of serving our datacenters is not passed on to residential customers,” Smith wrote.
