Connecting the dots: Like other tech companies expanding their data center infrastructure across the US, Amazon is facing backlash from rural and small-town residents over rising power bills, groundwater depletion, and severe noise and air pollution. To address the growing protests, Amazon is rolling out Built Together, a community investment initiative worth more than $1 billion over five years, designed to support towns hosting its hyperscale facilities.
In a blog post, Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman said the company will invest more than $1 billion over the next five years in data center towns across the US, on top of its existing efforts.
According to Garman, the funds will support local residents through social, economic, and environmental initiatives, including education, job training, energy affordability, water and energy preservation, and other local priorities.
Garman also said Amazon no longer uses nondisclosure agreements with the government agencies it works with, and is hosting open houses in the communities where it operates to improve transparency around its data center facilities. He added that the company will "encourage open dialogue" by sharing its plans early and ensuring residents have the facts and a chance to engage as projects progress.
Alongside the funding announcement, Garman pushed back on what he called "misinformation and outright lies" about data centers. He cited "widespread reports" of "various countries intentionally seeding misinformation" in the US to trick Americans into slowing down AI development.
Noting that more than 100 data center moratoriums are being considered across the country, Garman warned that if these measures are enacted, the US "could be writing its own losing ticket" in the AI race, and that the consequences would last generations.
Amazon hopes the new announcements will help quell the growing protests, even as a recent AP-NORC poll showed that roughly six in ten Americans favor limiting the number of new data center facilities. With resentment toward data centers at an all-time high, politicians across party lines are backing calls for a moratorium on new facilities.
While Democrats have long questioned unrelenting data center expansion, several influential MAGA Republicans, including Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Michigan US Senate candidate Mike Rogers, have recently backed moratoriums in their respective states.
President Trump, however, has remained steadfast in his support for AI data centers, claiming protesters are "making a mistake." He also lashed out at AI regulation advocates, including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, describing their warnings about a potential AI-fueled existential crisis for humanity as a "hoax."