US AI firms build their own power plants under Trump pressure to secure electricity

According to Financial News, major US big tech companies that had been wary of political backlash over the huge amount of electricity required for artificial intelligence (AI) operations have decided to shoulder part of the power costs themselves. They have pledged that when they build new data centers for AI development and maintenance, they will either construct the necessary power plants or pay additional costs.
The Hill reported that on the 4th (local time), the heads of major AI companies such as Google, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, OpenAI, Amazon, Oracle, and xAI gathered at the White House in Washington, D.C., and signed the "Ratepayer Protection Pledge." The document states that whenever these companies build a new AI data center, they will build, lease, or purchase their own power supply facilities. The companies will make efforts to secure dedicated power plants where possible, and in such cases the government will drastically shorten the permitting process to about two to four weeks. If the electricity generated by a company’s own facilities exceeds the data center’s demand, the surplus can be sold back into the existing grid at a low price. The companies also agreed to bear the cost of upgrading existing transmission and distribution infrastructure needed to operate their data centers.
The enormous amount of electricity consumed by data centers for AI development and operation has already been a contentious issue in political and business circles since last year. On January 12, US President Donald Trump wrote on the social media platform Truth Social, "I never want the American people to pay higher electricity bills because of data centers." In December last year, the US retail electricity price reached 17.24 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh), up 6% from the same month a year earlier.
Donald Trump, who arranged the meeting on the 4th, argued that as the US AI industry expands, energy demand is "expected to more than triple by 2035." He stressed that the pledge means "the largest and wealthiest IT companies in America will be footing the bill for a massive expansion of the US energy industry." He went on to call it "a historic pledge that will help dramatically lower utility and electricity bills for millions of Americans," and "a historic victory for countless American households."
Meanwhile, Dan Ives, head of global technology research at Wedbush Securities, warned in a report released right after the signing ceremony that the pledge could slow the pace of data center construction. He noted that while the agreement may help Trump address concerns over electricity prices and the cost of living ahead of the November midterm elections, it could create "significant bottlenecks" for big tech companies in building new data centers.
pjw@fnnews.com Reporter Park Jong-won Reporter