Companies building large data centers in the US must provide a kind of financial “dividend“ to the communities where they implement their projects if they want the support of the local population. This was stated by US President Donald Trump amid growing public dissatisfaction with the huge consumption of electricity and water by artificial intelligence infrastructure.
“I have been following the process closely and have noticed that data centers that were very unpopular in certain areas have become extremely popular when a financial agreement has been reached“, Trump wrote in Truth Social.
The rapid growth of artificial intelligence is causing a wave of investment in new data centers in the US. But the scale of the projects has sparked growing local controversy over the amount of electricity and water needed and concerns that the cost of new energy infrastructure could be passed on to households.
The Trump administration has made accelerating AI a priority in its technological competition with China, but it is also beginning to pay more attention to the response of local communities.
“I have ordered new and large data centers - in some cases gigantic - to generate their own electricity and provide or sell the excess to the local community or the power grid,” Trump said.
As early as February, the president urged big tech companies to build their own power plants to power their data centers. The goal, he said, is to ensure that the massive use of AI infrastructure does not lead to higher bills for other users.
The “dividend” proposal adds a new element to the debate – local communities would receive direct financial benefits from the construction of large technology facilities on their territory. However, it is not clear from Trump’s statement whether this is a future federal requirement, a specific payment mechanism, or a principle that companies should voluntarily apply when negotiating their projects.
The idea comes at a time when the technology sector itself is beginning to look for models for a broader distribution of the economic benefits of the artificial intelligence boom.
Anthropic announced that it will direct 5% of its shares to a new “public good” fund. Elon Musk, for his part, has promised one SpaceX share to “every child in America,” as the tech industry faces mounting public pressure over the economic, energy, and social implications of the rapid development of AI.
Trump’s stance could also have implications for future investment in real estate and energy infrastructure in the United States. The new generation of data centers now requires not only huge buildings and land, but also significant investments in power generation, network connections, and water supply. If tech companies also have to build their own power generation facilities, this would further increase the scale and capital costs of new AI campuses.