President Trump announced early Wednesday that large data centers will be required to produce their own electricity and share any surplus with the communities around them in the form of a “dividend.”
The Wall Street Journal reports that Trump made the announcement in a Truth Social post, writing that “new and large, in some cases gigantic, data centers are mandated by me to make their own electricity, and give or sell any excess back to the local community, or grid.” He also floated the idea that companies should “pay the community, and/or individuals within the community, a ‘dividend,'” though he gave no details on how either requirement would actually work.
The President’s full post reads:
As the President of the United States, I have been watching Data Centers very closely, and have come to a very strong conclusion. New and large, in some cases gigantic, Data Centers are mandated by me to make their own electricity, and give or sell any excess back to the local community, or grid, and therefore there is electric price increase. In fact, there could be a substantial decrease. Other elements likewise! If companies want to make their Data Centers popular, pay the community, and/or individuals within the community, a “dividend.” I have watched the process closely, and Data Centers that were highly unpopular in a certain area, have become extremely popular when a financial deal is struck. MAKE DEALS, and get them built!!! GREAT FOR THE U.S.A. President DJT
The announcement follows an effort earlier this year in which Trump got data center companies to pledge they’d supply or procure their own power while minimizing disruption to the communities around them. Those pledges haven’t stopped the opposition to data centers from growing.
Some companies have tried to head off the backlash with direct investment. Amazon and Meta have each pledged at least $1 billion to communities hosting their data centers. That hasn’t been enough to stop many towns and states from pursuing moratoriums on new approvals and rolling back the tax exemptions that once drew such projects in the first place.
This is a reversal from the tone Trump struck in August, when he warned communities on Truth Social against resisting data center development. “The only reason that communities throughout the U.S.A. should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor,” he wrote at the time. “If they want to be successful and rich, with far lower taxes and jobs all over the place, let Data Reign.”
Read more at the Wall Street Journal here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of AI, free speech, and online censorship.