United States President Donald Trump on Wednesday tell data centre companies say make dem strike deals with local communities and pay the community or individuals inside the community a ‘dividend’ so that residents go support the facilities. Trump post the message on Truth Social.
According to Trump, data centres wey highly unpopular for one area dey become extremely popular once financial deal land. He tok say: ‘MAKE DEALS, and get them built!’ The matter dey come before midterm elections in November, as public opposition to the buildout and environmental impact of the facilities dey grow, and multiple states dey consider moratoriums.
On energy, Trump tok say he personally mandate say data centres must make their own electricity and give or sell any excess back to the local community or grid, to offset energy price increases. He believe if dem do that, there could be substantial decrease.
Nebius Chief Revenue Officer Marc Boroditsky tell CNBC say the company dey ‘100% in principle’ in discussions about investing in communities. He speak to CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal for sidelines of Nvidia‘s GTC Berlin conference. Marc Boroditsky tok say there could be ‘some sort of way where the rewards are actually funneled back to the community,’ and he see benefit like direct economic opportunity for the community. He add say a dividend dey paid in different forms, including investing in education, job development and overall economic development, and the concept Trump identify no be crazy to consider.
Data centre stocks also come under pressure this week as concerns about the financial health of the sector dey grow. As AI infrastructure buildout dey cost more, companies dey turn to debt markets to finance deals. HSBC CEO Georges Elhedery tell CNBC’s Dan Murphy say one has to be selective, look at quality of tenancy agreements and pricing of contracts, because not all of them get the level of strength wey person fit support strongly.
Much of the concern dey centre on water usage, power consumption, electricity prices and the amount of space some centres require. Access to power na major constraint on the sector, as power grids in the United States and Europe dey overwhelmed with applications from large energy users like data centres.
Investing Live analysts say in 2026 alone, at least 47 large-scale projects don delay, and more than 1,000 local communities across the United States don formally propose or seek moratoria, zoning caps or strict environmental limits on incoming AI infrastructure. The analysts also project say United States AI infrastructure spending go pass $10 trillion between 2025 and 2032, around 3.6% of the country’s GDP per year.
Earlier in the summer, Meta strike deal with Texas governor Greg Abbott over a controversial data centre project in El Paso, Texas, funded by BlackRock. Wetin start as $1.5 billion investment in 2023 blow up to $14 billion mega-campus project, causing widespread public backlash and prompting authorities to consider scrapping the project. In June, the local council vote 5-3 against cancelling the deal. The governor then reach deal to set guardrails to protect the local community, including making Meta pay for their electrical infrastructure, reuse their own water and promise to ‘eliminate reliance on outdated taxpayer-funded incentives.’ Critics including Gina Hinojosa argue say the agreement no set out any binding conditions on the tech company. Meta expect construction to finish in two years.
Several candidates from the Republican Party don oppose data centres before the midterms. Ken Paxton in Texas, Mike Rogers in Michigan and John Husted in Ohio all call for more restrictions and oversight on the centres, in a reversal of earlier positions. For one recent debate in Iowa, Ashley Hinson, a Republican Party candidate, say local level suppose decide whether to build AI data centres.
