The Trump administration has thrown down the gauntlet to technology giants, confronting them with a dilemma that could redefine the economics of data centres in the US. During his State of the Union address, the president announced that major technology companies would be forced to build their own power supplies to relieve the strain on the national electricity grid. While the rhetoric focuses on protecting consumers’ wallets from rising bills, for the AI and cloud computing sector this marks a shift from a pure consumption model to a role as critical infrastructure developers.
The move is a direct response to tensions in states such as Virginia and Ohio, where the rapid growth of AI clusters has led to an overloading of local grids. PJM Interconnection, a key operator on the East Coast, has previously suggested that new large-scale energy customers need to bring their own capacity into the system. Now these suggestions are becoming the foundation of hard federal policy.
For leaders such as Microsoft, Google and Amazon, the announced March meeting at the White House will not just be a courtesy visit. These companies have been investing in renewables for years, but Trump’s new doctrine suggests something much more demanding: physical separation from the public grid or direct financing of new energy generation (so-called *behind-the-meter*). This forces capital-intensive investment, probably towards small modular reactors (SMRs) or advanced energy storage systems, which are currently in the early stages of deployment.
From a business perspective, Trump is trying to kill two birds with one stone. On the one hand, the administration wants to maintain its lead over China in the AI arms race, which requires gigantic computing power. On the other hand, rising energy prices have become a political burden ahead of the upcoming mid-term elections. By shifting the cost of infrastructure development to Big Tech, the White House is taking this burden off the shoulders of voters, while forcing companies to accelerate innovation in the energy sector.
