A senior Microsoft executive on Tuesday addressed the impact data centers have on the electrical costs for home consumers, an increasingly touchy subject that became a political hot button in November’s elections.
In a blog post ahead of a speech on artificial intelligence, Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president, reiterated that Microsoft wants to pay for the electricity its data center use and avoid affecting everyday customers. “We’ll ask utilities and public commissions to set our rates high enough to cover the electricity costs for our data centers,” Mr. Smith wrote.
Microsoft and its peers have been saying for some time that they want to pay their fair share, but determining how much data centers should pay is not straightforward, creating fights in some states.
President Trump said in a social media post on Monday night that Microsoft was the first of several technology companies he expected to address the issue. “I never want Americans to pay higher Electricity bills because of Data Centers,” he wrote.
Karen Weise writes about technology for The Times and is based in Seattle. Her coverage focuses on Amazon and Microsoft, two of the most powerful companies in America.
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