WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump has unveiled a new initiative aimed at powering the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence in the United States while preventing electricity costs from rising for households, bringing together some of the world’s largest technology companies in what the White House called a “Ratepayer Protection Pledge.”
Speaking at a White House roundtable with executives from major tech firms on Wednesday (local time), Trump said the agreement would allow companies building massive AI data centres to generate or pay for their own electricity rather than relying on existing power grids.
“These are exciting times, ” Trump said at the event.
Under the pledge, technology companies including Google, Meta, Amazon Web Services, OpenAI and Oracle committed to funding the energy generation required for their expanding AI operations.
“Under this new agreement, big tech companies are committing to fully cover the costs of increased electricity production required for AI data centres, ” Trump said.
He said the arrangement would ensure that electricity costs for ordinary Americans would not increase as the technology industry expands.
“This means that the tech companies and the data centres will be able to get the electricity they need all without driving up electricity costs for consumers, ” he said.