Trump Urges Data Center Companies To Pay Communities A ‘Dividend’ — Says ‘Make Deals, And Get Them Built’

The president's proposal comes as community opposition threatens billions in AI infrastructure investments, with Nebius and market watchers weighing its potential benefits.

• Trump said large data centers must generate their own electricity and supply or sell excess power to local communities or the grid.
• Communities question the impact of energy-intensive facilities on electricity bills, water supplies, and local infrastructure
• Trump’s data center dividend proposal is ‘not crazy’, Nebius chief revenue officer told CNBC.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday urged companies building artificial intelligence (AI) data centers to pay local communities or individual residents a “dividend” to secure support for new projects.

In a Truth Social post, Trump said previously unpopular projects had gained support after companies reached financial agreements with communities. “MAKE DEALS, and get them built!!!” Trump wrote.

Trump also said large new data centers must generate their own electricity and supply or sell excess power to the grid, potentially lowering electricity costs. He did not specify how the dividend payments would work.

Why Communities Are Pushing Back Against Data Centers

Rapid AI infrastructure expansion has become a political flashpoint as communities question how energy-intensive facilities affect electricity bills, water supplies, and local infrastructure.

The U.S. Department of Energy estimated that data centers could account for 6.7% to 12% of national electricity consumption by 2028, compared with 4.4% in 2023. A July report from Carbon Direct found that community opposition had delayed, withdrawn, or stalled at least 46 projects across 20 states, representing $170 billion in announced investments.

In a recent TIME interview, Trump acknowledged concerns about data centers being built near homes. “It doesn't mean I want them right next to my house, but certainly I like them in my county,” he said. 

The president also argued that the facilities would bring economic benefits, saying, “They're going to lower your taxes.” At an October 3 rally in Ohio, he defended data-center development, warning that investments could shift to China if the U.S. blocked projects.

In March, Amazon, Google (GOOG, GOOGL), Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle (ORCL) and xAI signed the White House's Ratepayer Protection Pledge, agreeing to cover additional power generation and infrastructure costs associated with their facilities.

Response To Trump’s Community ‘Dividend’ Proposal

Trump’s proposal to pay local communities a dividend for hosting AI data centers is “not crazy to consider,” according to Nebius Group N.V. (NBIS) Chief Revenue Officer Marc Boroditsky, who told CNBC that the company was “100% in principle” open to discussions about investing in local communities.

Boroditsky said community benefits could extend beyond existing tax revenues to education, job development and direct economic opportunities.

Investor Shay Boloor, in an X post, highlighted that the proposal could favor technology giants such as Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), Microsoft (MSFT) and Meta (META).

Boloor said paying residents and developing on-site power generation could prove far cheaper for these companies than delaying billions of dollars in AI infrastructure investments for another year.

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