President Donald Trump announced on Monday that he is set to reach agreements with major technology companies to prevent the rapid expansion of data centers from increasing utility bills in the United States.
Data centers are critical to “the boom” of artificial intelligence in the U.S., Trump said. But people should not be forced to “pick up the tab” in the form of higher utility bills for data centers’ energy-intensive technology, he added, stating the White House is seeking “commitments” from companies to keep prices low. Microsoft is leading the way, making “major changes” this week, according to Trump.
“We are the ‘HOTTEST’ Country in the World, and Number One in AI. 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,” he said in a statement posted to Truth Social.
Trump’s announcement seeks to alleviate concerns about the cost of living. And it comes amid widespread Democratic efforts to brand themselves as the champions of affordability in the months leading up to the midterm elections as they fight to upend the Republican Party’s razor-thin majorities in the House and Senate.
“We are bringing back the AMERICAN DREAM that was destroyed by the last Administration. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” the president said last week.
The administration’s latest push on utility prices comes as the demand for AI has skyrocketed in recent years, exposing weaknesses in the country’s energy grid as the exploding number of data centers being built to power the technology requires enormous amounts of electricity. In October 2025 alone, U.S. companies spent nearly $11 billion across 23 data center construction sites compared to just $2.9 billion spent the previous October. The rapid acceleration has led to burgeoning complaints from areas such as Virginia, where data centers are concentrated, and some residents have blamed heightened demand for contributing to higher power costs.
However, many data center developers are constructing their own on-site power, taking pressure off the outdated U.S. energy grid, according to an analysis from the Wall Street Journal. And some major power companies are pushing back on characterizations that data centers are escaping the burden of costs.
“I want to make it clear that data centers are not driving up residential bills. Independent state studies have confirmed that these data centers pay the full cost of their power,” Dominion Energy spokeswoman Aisha Khan told ABC News on Monday.
The Trump administration believes that expanding data centers can help lower electricity prices by financing the construction of additional supply and then eventually smoothing out demand.
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Data centers are the “best mechanism we have to reduce electricity prices,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright previously told the Washington Examiner, arguing that adding more load to the grid could lower the average price per unit of electricity.
“The red states that have governed in a sort of business-friendly way, where data centers were mostly built — those are the places that don’t have big electricity rises,” Wright said. “The states that have made it hard to build new capacity there, and therefore their demand hasn’t grown or has even shrunk. Those are the places with the fastest electricity rise.”
