"The Trump administration continues its AI push, working to defuse public opposition to datacenter energy and water consumption - while dangling a promise to exempt hyperscalers from chip tariffs to help them stock their facilities with GPUs and accelerators. To address public concerns, Washington wants tech giants to commit that their expanding datacenter estates across the US won't spike energy bills or drain local water supplies. According to Politico, a proposed voluntary pact between President Trump, the datacenter industry and megacorps like Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Meta and OpenAI, would establish principles around energy, water use and local community relations."
"Other reports indicate hyperscalers may be spared from President Trump's chip import tariffs to avoid impeding their buildouts. In January, the White House said it was imposing 25 percent tariffs on "certain advanced computing chips," including Nvidia's H200 and AMD's MI325X. According to the Financial Times, these tariff carve-outs may be contingent on chip companies - especially TSMC - committing to relocating more production stateside. This furthers Washington's effort to relocate 40-50 percent of TSMC's manufacturing to US soil, a "massive reshoring" that Taiwan's vice-premier this week called " impossible.""
A voluntary pact is being pursued between the U.S. administration, the datacenter industry and major tech companies to set principles on energy use, water consumption and local community relations for expanding datacenter estates. Washington seeks commitments that datacenter growth will not raise energy bills or drain local water supplies. The administration has pushed companies to fund power increases and urged grid operators to respond to surging AI demand. Local opposition has blocked or delayed numerous projects. The administration may offer exemptions from 25 percent tariffs on certain advanced chips to hyperscalers, conditional on more onshore production and increased U.S. manufacturing investment.
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