Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says the company must earn communities’ permission to build data centers that use local power and water. Microsoft’s plan includes paying to keep electricity rates from rising and replenishing more water than it uses.
Microsoft announced its Community-First AI Infrastructure Plan in January. It also includes local hiring and AI training investments, and says the company will not ask communities to reduce taxes on data centers. In March, Microsoft said it would end its use of non-disclosure agreements and terminate existing ones.
States have also moved to restrict construction: New York issued a statewide, one-year moratorium, and Texas blocked new projects pending an ERCOT audit of their effects on the power grid and water. Nadella cited Quincy, Washington, where Microsoft began building its first company-owned data center in 2006. Microsoft says poverty there fell from 29.4% in 2012 to 13.1% in 2023; residents’ tax rates also declined, and a stronger tax base helped fund a hospital and other municipal facilities. Nadella said Microsoft has nearly 1,000 employees there.
