Microsoft announced a slew of new data centers but says your electricity bill won’t go up

though public backlash against data centers has been strong in the past twelve months, all the biggest companies in the technology industry have pledged to build additional AI infrastructure in the coming year. This includes Microsoft’s OpenAI partner, which, on Tuesday, announce what it calls it a “community first” approach to AI Infrastructure.

Microsoft’s announcement, which was just one day after Mark Zuckerberg said that Meta will start its own AI infrastructure program, unexpectedly. Last year, the company announced that it plans to spend billions to expand AI capacity. What is unusual is the promises that the company has now made about how to deal with the development.

On Tuesday, Microsoft pledged to take the “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, a “pay your own way” plan to ensure that local electricity bills don’t go through the roof where they are built. Specifically, the company said it will work with local utility companies to ensure that the rates they pay cover the load on the local grid.

“We will work with utility companies that set electricity prices and state commissions that approve those prices,” Microsoft said. “Our goal is straightforward: to ensure that the cost of electricity to service our data centers is not passed on to residential customers.”

The company also promises to create jobs in the communities it touches, as well as reduce the amount of water the centers have to use. Water use by data centers is clearly a controversial topic, with data centers charged creating substantial problems for local water supply and other spurring environmental concerns. Job promises are also relevant, given their lingering question around the number of short-term and permanent jobs that the project typically creates.

It’s pretty clear why Microsoft felt the need to make that promise now. The construction of data centers has been a political flashpoint in recent years, generating strong reactions and protests from local communities. Data Center Watch, an organization that tracks anti-data center activities, has observed that there are 142 different activist groups in 24 countries that are currently organizing against these developments.

This backlash has directly affected Microsoft. In October, the company abandoned plans for a new data center in Caledonia, Wisconsin, after “community feedback” was overwhelmingly negative. In Michigan, meanwhile, the company is planning a similar project in a small midtown has new local inspiration to take to the streets in protest. On Tuesday, around the same time Microsoft announced its “good neighbor” pledge, and op-eds in an Ohio newspaper (where Microsoft is now develop some data center campuses) excoriated the company, blaming and peers for climate change.

Concerns have even reached the White House, where the development of AI has become one of the main principles of the Trump administration. On Monday, President Trump took to social media to promise that Microsoft would specifically make “major changes” to ensure that America’s electricity bills never go up. Trump said the change would “ensure that Americans do not ‘pick up the tab’ for power consumption.”

In short, now, Microsoft knows that they are fighting against negative public opinion. It remains to be seen whether the company’s new guarantee of jobs, environmental stewardship, and low electricity bills will be enough to turn the tide.