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- President Donald Trump asks tech companies to “pay their own way” for their data centers.
- Data centers drove up utility bills in at least 13 states, Business Insider previously reported.
- Trump says that Microsoft will be the first to work with the White House to keep utility bills down.
President Donald Trump said on Monday that even though data centers are “key” to the AI boom, tech companies must “‘pay their own way,'” so that Americans don’t have higher utility bills.
“First up is Microsoft, who my team has been working with, and which will make 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,” Trump said on Truth Social, hinting at additional announcements in the coming weeks.
Data centers drove up utility bills in at least 13 states, Business Insider previously reported.
Over the past year, Microsoft has been planning for data centers in Wisconsin, Atlanta, Texas, and Michigan.
The White House and Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The pressure on Big Tech to self-fund its energy needs comes as the Trump administration leans into the AI race with the Stargate Project, which is a massive $500 billion joint venture between OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank announced by Trump early in 2025 to build AI infrastructure. As of 2026, at least one data center under the project is already underway in Texas.
Such buildouts are energy-intensive. OpenAI’s data center plans will cost $400 billion and require seven gigawatts of power, Business Insider previously wrote, more than that of the entire New York City.
Some tech companies are also moving their planned facilities off the grid entirely for easier permitting and less community resistance. To shield residents and small businesses from rate hikes, utilities in states like Indiana and Ohio have also started enforcing tariffs on power-hungry tech facilities.
