One of the biggest risks to the artificial intelligence boom is Americans' opposition to building the data centers needed to power it. A pledge from dozens of data center developers and utilities made with President Donald Trump on Thursday will do little to stop the backlash.

Executives from nearly 200 entities are promising that AI data centers' power consumption won't drive up consumers' electric bills.

The signatories of the so-called Ratepayer Protection Pledge include NextEra Energy and Duke Energy, as well as governors including Georgia's Brian Kemp and Texas' Greg Abbott. They join executives from tech companies including OpenAI, Amazon.com, Google, Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Oracle and xAI who signed the pledge earlier this year.

The pledge is an attempt to stem an anti-data-center backlash sweeping the country. A Reuters/Ipsos poll in June showed 57% of Americans oppose building a data center in their communities, compared with 14% who support it.

The opposition has led dozens of local governments to propose moratoriums on the data center construction. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul last week signed an executive order implementing the first statewide data center ban, which will last up to a year.

"The President's bold action is turning data centers into engines of growth for local communities, while cementing America's dominance in the global AI race," said White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers in a statement, adding that the pledge ensures the companies behind data centers cover their own costs rather than pass them onto Americans.

The White House says that with the new signatories the pledge now covers 80% of power delivered to American homes and businesses. As written in March, the pledge required companies "to build, bring, or buy all of the energy needed for building and operating data centers, paying the full cost of their energy and infrastructure, no matter what."

Unfortunately for AI companies and developers, the pledge might have a limited impact on Americans' AI opinions.

The first reason is that the pledge is nonbinding and would be difficult to enforce even if it were. Consumer electricity prices rose 4% in the past year through June, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Since data centers are often lumped in with other large ratepayers, it's hard to attribute price increases to data centers specifically, and some researchers have said that the language of the pledge itself is subject to interpretation.

But more than that, electricity costs are just one of many problems that Americans cite in opposition to the data-center buildout. In addition to the electricity costs, opponents have argued that the facilities are unsightly and loud, hurt the environment, and use up water and other resources.

Data centers employ few people after they're built, limiting community economic benefits. Putting power generation facilities on-site -- which some data centers use to lower their impact on the electric grid -- can increase noise.

The widespread, bipartisan opposition to data-center construction has led both Democratic and Republican politicians to support some form of a moratorium. At a Semafor event this week, Sen. Roger Marshall (R., Kansas) didn't lend his support to a statewide data center pause like in New York, but noted that several dozen counties have put on their own moratoriums and that he supported them.

For AI companies and data center developers, the backlash is likely to get worse before it gets better.

Write to Joe Light at joe.light@barrons.com

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July 23, 2026 15:31 ET (19:31 GMT)

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