Trump Would Make Data Centers Supply Their Own Power

President Trump said Wednesday he would require new and large data centers to supply their own electricity, then give or sell any excess power to nearby communities or the grid. The plan shifts responsibility for the facilities’ energy needs to their operators, and Trump said it would prevent electricity prices from rising. Communities or the grid would receive any power left over.

“In fact, there could be a substantial decrease. Other elements likewise!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. He called data centers “highly unpopular in a certain area” but “extremely popular when a financial deal is struck,” and urged operators to “MAKE DEALS, and get them built!!!”

Power Costs and Local Communities

Technology companies say data centers support the development of artificial intelligence. Dozens of companies, including Meta, Amazon and Google, have agreed to cover higher energy costs caused by their data centers under Trump’s ratepayer protection pledge. His proposed requirement would separately make new and large facilities provide their own electricity and give or sell excess power to nearby communities or the grid.

Residents worry about more than electricity bills. Americans have grown wary of data-center projects because of pressure on water resources, noise and air pollution, as well as energy costs. A medium-sized data center can use up to about 110 million gallons of water a year for cooling—about as much as 1,000 households use annually, according to an analysis by the nonprofit Environmental and Energy Study Institute last year.

Some communities have collected more tax revenue from data centers. Others offered tax breaks to attract investment. Ohio and Illinois have paused some tax incentive programs in recent months, while New York instituted the nation’s first statewide freeze on new “hyperscale” data centers. Local governments have taken different approaches as investment, public revenue and the costs tied to the facilities enter state and community policy debates.

Political Pressure Over Construction

Trump has argued that opposing data centers risks economic consequences. Last month, he claimed critics wanted “poverty, crime and squalor” and accused communities resisting the facilities of wanting to be “backwards and poor.” Earlier this month, during a tight Senate race in Ohio, he stressed how “much money” the state would make as some Ohioans criticized data-center development.

At a rally for Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio), whom opponents have criticized for wanting to bring data centers to the state while serving as lieutenant governor, Trump said: “You can’t just turn them off. They’ll go to China.” He framed construction as a competition with China. Local critics, meanwhile, raised concerns about development in Ohio.

Concerns about rogue software have also driven opposition to AI, particularly after recent attempted and successful hacks into government websites. The debate gained another warning from former OpenAI and Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon, who said AI could become an existential threat to humanity by the end of the decade. Data centers’ electricity and water demands, local development decisions and concerns about the technology they support all remain part of the debate.