President Trump calls for tech giants to “pay their own way” on energy, says Microsoft will make “major changes”
Microsoft is hosting an event on AI opportunities and costs today.
The AI data center boom that’s driving massive growth for hyperscalers’ cloud businesses must “never” cause Americans to pay higher electricity prices, President Donald Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Monday evening.
Per POTUS, the administration “is working with major American Technology Companies to secure their commitment to the American People” — starting with Microsoft, “which will make major changes beginning this week to ensure that Americans don’t ‘pick up the tab’ for their POWER consumption.”
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith is slated to make an announcement at an event in Washington today. The Redmond-based company teased the appearance with a statement released ahead of Trump’s post, which reads in part:
“...the country is entering a new era of opportunity shaped by the power of AI. This moment raises fundamental questions about the future we build together — who benefits from AI, its potential impacts, and who should bear the cost of critical AI infrastructure?”
Tech giants want energy to realize their AI data center ambitions, but they must walk a fine line to avoid drawing the ire of American households and politicians in the process. Some experts already see a link between higher power prices for consumers and the rise of the AI boom. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics reveals that average electricity costs (per kilowatt-hour) have risen about ~40% since early 2021, though this also coincided with a period of generally high inflation.
Interestingly, Axios reported in August that Virginia — widely known as the data center capital of the world — saw a below-average rise in electricity costs in the nation from May 2024 to May 2025, though price hikes are expected through this coming year.
Power play
In October, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella discussed how the key bottleneck for AI deployment doesn’t concern chips, but rather “the ability to get the builds done fast enough close to power. So if you can’t do that, you may actually have a bunch of chips sitting in inventory that I can’t plug in, and in fact, that is my problem today. It’s not a supply issue of chips; it’s actually the fact that I don’t have warm shelves to plug into.”
Meta’s recent nuclear power pacts took care to highlight that these deals would be providing a net addition of energy to the PJM region, a sign that tech behemoths are aiming to duck any blame for higher household electricity bills.
Affordability has been the subject of recent proposals the president has proffered, from housing to credit cards to energy, and appears to be gaining momentum as a policy priority. George Pollack, senior US policy analyst at Signum Global Advisors, has argued that the Trump administration can realize only two of three objectives: preside over an AI boom, boost fossil fuel production at the expense of renewables, and avoid household angst over high energy prices.
“We are the ‘HOTTEST’ Country in the World, and Number One in AI,” Trump added. “Data Centers are key to that boom, and keeping Americans FREE and SECURE but, the big Technology Companies who build them must ‘pay their own way.’”
