Microsoft is trying to win over communities concerned about AI data centers. The company's president, Brad Smith, is meeting with federal lawmakers to emphasize that the industry, not taxpayers, should cover the costs of these centers.

Microsoft is trying to defuse a nationwide backlash against the energy-hungry AI boom by promising to pay the full cost of powering its data centers and to walk away from local tax breaks that once sweetened those deals.

Microsoft also said it will no longer pursue local tax breaks for its data centers, breaking a prior pattern it established in Georgia. The company in 2020 received a $14.5 million tax break for a Palmetto data center and was granted a $75 million tax break for a Union City project in 2024.

Quincy is a small farming town in Central Washington near the Columbia River, home to one of the world’s top french fry producers. It’s also the model for Microsoft’s nationwide data center strategy.

In a bid to tamp down growing unrest in communities over tech giants’ expansion of power-hungry data centers, President Donald Trump said his administration would push Silicon Valley companies to ensure their massive computer farms do not drive up people’s electricity bills,