Overview
- AWS will invest more than $1 bn over five years in US communities hosting its data centers, funding education, workforce training and energy efficiency initiatives.
- Amazon has stopped using nondisclosure agreements with county officials as opposition to data center construction intensifies and more than 100 moratoriums are under consideration.
- AWS says it has reached 75% of its water-positive target for 2030, while CEO Matt Garman disputes criticism of data centers’ environmental and energy impacts.
Amazon Web Services plans to invest more than $1 bn over the next five years in US communities hosting its data centers, seeking to address local opposition to the infrastructure supporting artificial intelligence and cloud computing.
The funding will support education, workforce development and energy affordability programs as concerns about electricity demand, water consumption and transparency increasingly influence decisions on new projects.
AWS CEO Matt Garman announced the investment on Friday as part of the company’s new “Amazon Data Center Commitment,” which sets out principles governing its relationships with communities where it develops and operates facilities. The announcement also confirmed that Amazon has stopped using nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) with county officials, a practice that has attracted criticism for restricting public access to information about proposed developments.
The commitments come as more than 100 proposed moratoriums on data center construction are under consideration across the United States. Garman warned that restrictions on development could weaken the country’s position in artificial intelligence, which he described as increasingly important to economic competitiveness and national security.
There is urgency to this data center buildout because we aren’t the only country that sees the benefits of AI for the economy and national security, and the countries that lead in AI will shape it and get the most from it
AWS CEO Matt Garman
The planned investment includes free community college programs, workforce training and energy efficiency improvements for schools, residential properties and community buildings. AWS also committed to protecting local water and energy resources and responding to other priorities identified by host communities.
Amazon spent $276 bn on data centers between 2011 and 2025. The company has major projects and expansions underway in Indiana, Louisiana, North Carolina, Virginia and Mississippi, making its relationships with local governments and residents increasingly important to its infrastructure strategy.
Ending nondisclosure agreements with local officials
Amazon’s decision to discontinue NDAs with county officials addresses one of the central transparency complaints surrounding data center development.
Such agreements have prevented some local government representatives from disclosing information about proposed projects, including the identity of technology companies involved and the facilities’ expected electricity and water requirements.
Critics argue that these restrictions limit public scrutiny of infrastructure proposals that can place considerable demands on local resources.
Several state governments have already taken steps to restrict the practice. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey and Delaware Governor Matt Meyer have issued executive orders addressing the use of data center NDAs. Legislatures in New York, New Jersey, Indiana and Ohio have also considered measures that would prohibit such agreements.
Federal lawmakers have begun examining the issue. A bipartisan group recently introduced the No Secrets for Data Centers Act in the US House of Representatives.
Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, one of the bill’s sponsors, sent letters earlier this week to Amazon, Alphabet’s Google, Meta Platforms and Oracle requesting information about their use of nondisclosure agreements.
Amazon previously told the Wall Street Journal that it had already discontinued the practice. Google, Meta and Oracle did not respond to the newspaper’s requests for comment.
- In Tucson, Arizona, a local news organization’s public records request revealed last year that Amazon was the intended tenant of a disputed data center development. A nondisclosure agreement had prevented county officials from identifying the company. Amazon subsequently withdrew from the project.
- In South Bend, Indiana, where Amazon has invested more than $13 bn in a data center campus, some elected representatives said local government employees were unable to answer questions about the development because they had signed NDAs with the company.
Technology companies frequently rely on developers, contractors and other intermediaries to negotiate with local authorities, rather than conducting every stage of the process directly.
The Houston Chronicle reported last month that a senior official in Wharton County, Texas, had signed an NDA with VisionFirst Advisors, a contractor involved in an Amazon project. The agreement restricted the official’s ability to disclose details about the development.
AWS disputes criticism of data center resource consumption
Garman also challenged claims about the environmental and economic consequences of large-scale data center development, describing some of the public debate as containing “misinformation and outright lies.”
Data centers consume “very little water relative to other industries” and disputed the suggestion that expanding computing infrastructure is the principal cause of higher electricity prices.
According to Garman, rising utility costs largely reflect an aging electrical grid that “hasn’t been invested in and expanded before the demand arrives.”
The AWS chief executive also suggested that foreign governments could be encouraging opposition to American data center construction through coordinated misinformation campaigns.
This build out is so important geopolitically that there are widespread reports of various countries intentionally seeding misinformation in the U.S. about data centers to trick us into slowing down.
Assertions that China is deliberately encouraging American opposition to data centers have also appeared in statements from the White House and technology industry executives. Experts have questioned the strength of those claims, arguing that available evidence does not establish Chinese misinformation as a significant driver of local resistance.
The competing accounts have become part of the debate over whether concerns about water availability, electricity prices and infrastructure capacity are being adequately addressed by companies proposing new facilities.
AWS reports 75% progress toward its water-positive target
Alongside its community investment plans, AWS reaffirmed its objective of becoming water positive across its data centers by 2030.
Under the commitment, the company aims to return more water to communities than its data center operations consume. AWS reported that it has reached 75% of the way toward achieving the target.
The environmental commitments form part of Amazon’s broader effort to respond to communities questioning the costs and benefits of hosting facilities used to train and operate AI models.
Data center development has also emerged as an issue ahead of the November 3 US midterm elections. Residents in several states have raised concerns about rising electricity demand, potential utility price increases and the effects of large industrial computing facilities on local infrastructure.
The opposition presents an additional political challenge for Republicans ahead of the vote, as federal support for expanding domestic AI infrastructure encounters resistance at the community level.
