Amazon to invest $1B into data center communities amid backlash against
data center rollouts
[October 03, 2026] By
ANNE D'INNOCENZIO
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon is investing more than $1 billion over the next
five years into communities where it operates data centers for
education, job training, water and energy preservation projects and
other local priorities as it reacts to a growing backlash from
politicians and consumers to the tech industry's rollout of the massive
buildings.
According to a blog post on Friday by Matt Garman, Amazon’s CEO of its
cloud computing arm, Amazon has already spent more than $1 billion in
communities with a large data center presence over the past three years.
Garman also said that Amazon is no longer using nondisclosure agreements
with government agencies it works with on its projects, and it said it
hosts open houses in communities where it operates to share information
about what it's doing. He also warned against the spread of what he
believes is misinformation about data centers' impact on the environment
and energy rates — and he cited the dangers of over 100 moratoriums
against these centers being considered across the country.
“If these measures are enacted, the U.S. could be writing its own losing
ticket to this race, and the consequences would last generations,” he
wrote. “As a country, we can’t afford to find ourselves in that
position. There is urgency to this data center build out because we
aren’t the only country that sees the benefits of AI for the economy and
national security.”
Garman's pledge comes as data centers, which power artificial
intelligence and cloud computing, have become a hot political issue
heading into the midterms as tech giants race to invest more money in
expanding these infrastructures.
[to top of second column] |
 Small, under-the-radar data centers
have been around for decades. But the explosion of artificial
intelligence chatbots has resulted in data centers that are bigger
than anything just about any town has ever seen. Some of them dwarf
football stadiums and factories and consume more energy than small
cities.
By 2030, data centers will account for nearly 3% of the world’s
projected electricity use, with 935 trillion watt-hours, according
to a United Nations University report released in June on these
buildings' environmental footprint.
Amazon said in July that it now expects to spend $220 billion in
capital expenditures in 2026, including on data centers and other
technology investments. That’s up from its prior estimate of $200
billion.
President Donald Trump has embraced the building of more data
centers, but there is growing wariness from voters. About 6 in 10
Americans support limiting the number of new data centers that can
be built, including most Democrats and Republicans.
And a majority of Americans are “extremely” or “very” concerned
about the impact of data centers on electricity prices or the water
supply in the communities where they are built.
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved
 |
