Trump Mandates Tech Firms Self-Supply Data Center Power

President Donald Trump announced during his State of the Union address on Tuesday that major technology companies must meet their own electricity needs for data centers, potentially by constructing their own power plants, as part of a new agreement aimed at shielding consumers from rising utility bills.

The initiative, described by Trump as a "ratepayer protection pledge," responds to surging power demands from artificial intelligence infrastructure. Tech firms are investing hundreds of billions of dollars in data centers across the United States, which has strained the aging national grid and contributed to higher electricity costs for households and businesses. A recent report highlighted how this increased demand is driving up utility expenses nationwide.

"We're telling the major tech companies that they have the obligation to provide for their own power needs," Trump said in the address. "They can build their own power plants as part of their factory so that no one's prices will go up, and in many cases, prices of electricity will go down for the community." He added that the country's outdated grid cannot accommodate the required electricity volumes, emphasizing that the...