内容来源：https://www.geekwire.com/2026/microsoft-responds-to-ai-data-center-revolt-vowing-to-cover-full-power-costs-and-reject-local-tax-breaks/

内容总结：

微软宣布调整人工智能数据中心建设策略，推出“社区优先”计划，以应对全美多地因数据中心扩张导致的电费上涨与水资源压力问题。该计划于周二在华盛顿正式公布，承诺承担全部用电成本、放弃地方房产税减免、实现水资源净正效益、培训本地劳动力并投资人工智能教育项目。

公司总裁布拉德·史密斯表示，这一转变是“正确且明智的决策”，并承认过去行业惯用的保密购地模式已不可持续。他指出，近期在威斯康星等州的实地考察中，民众关注焦点已从就业机会转向电价与用水问题，反映出公众态度的显著变化。

当前美国数据中心聚集地的居民电价年涨幅已达12%-16%，远超全国平均水平，引发国会民主党议员对科技巨头的调查。微软此次政策调整被视为对公众关切的直接回应，其具体措施包括采用“超大型客户”电价结构避免转嫁成本、2030年前提升40%用水效率、与建筑业工会合作开展学徒计划等。

尽管未公布专项预算，史密斯强调该计划是公司长期战略的核心环节，将于7月初美国独立日期间公布具体社区合作项目。此番转型亦呼应了特朗普政府关于科技企业应承担社会责任的呼吁，但微软明确表示仅支持联邦政府在审批流程上提供便利，反对电力补贴等直接资助。

中文翻译：

特朗普对微软的看法是对的——但他只透露了部分内情。面对全美各地民众因电费上涨、供水减少而日益强烈的反对声浪，微软正在改变其建设大规模人工智能数据中心的方式，推出了一项名为"社区优先"的倡议。

这项于周二上午在华盛顿特区公布的新计划包括：承诺全额支付公司用电成本、放弃地方房产税减免、补充超过其消耗的水资源、培训当地劳动力，并投资人工智能教育和社区项目。

"这个行业过去以一种方式运作，未来需要以不同的方式运作，"微软总裁兼副主席布拉德·史密斯在接受GeekWire采访时表示。他后来将这一转变描述为"既是正确之举，也是明智之举"。

特朗普周一晚间在Truth Social上提前发布帖文抢占了头条，称他的政府一直在与科技公司合作"以确保它们对美国人民的承诺"。他点名微软"率先行动"，并表示该公司将"做出重大改变……以确保美国人民不必为它们的电力消耗'买单'"。

人工智能扩张遭遇反弹

微软此次行动正值科技行业的关键时刻。

亚马逊、谷歌、OpenAI、微软等公司正押注数千亿美元于人工智能，但这些雄心壮志取决于它们建设支持性基础设施的能力——而这一前景越来越依赖于地方社区的配合，后者已对相关成本和权衡日益警惕。

史密斯表示，微软自去年9月以来一直在制定这项倡议。他称这是对公众情绪变化的回应——他在威斯康星州家乡为微软数据中心扩建进行考察时亲眼见证了这种变化。早在2024年，当地居民关注的是就业问题。而到去年10月，主要话题已变成电价和用水。

"我们看到，随着时间推移，全国许多其他地方的许多其他公司也在一定程度上遇到了这个问题，"他说。

根据美国政府数据，在弗吉尼亚、伊利诺伊和俄亥俄等数据中心枢纽地区，过去一年住宅电价上涨了12%至16%，明显快于全美平均水平，原因是电网运营商急于为新建大型设施增加容量。

这一问题已引起美国国会的关注。上个月，三名民主党参议员启动了一项调查，旨在查明科技巨头是否推高了居民电费，并向亚马逊、微软、谷歌和Meta发出了质询函。一项由亚马逊资助的研究发现，该公司在某些地区支付的公用事业费用已完全覆盖其用电相关成本。

微软的路线转变

史密斯在帖文中概述的微软新方案，明显背离了该公司过去的做法。该公司曾在俄亥俄、爱荷华等州接受数据中心税收减免，其在密歇根州某乡镇的身份直到最近才被披露。

史密斯在采访中承诺将实现前所未有的透明度。

他承认，行业的传统做法是企业通过保密协议购买土地以避免推高价格——这给了它们竞争优势，却让社区对入驻者身份及其运营方式一无所知。

"这显然不是引领我们前进的道路，"他说。他补充道，从长远来看，在数据中心领域取得成功的企业"将是那些与当地社区建立了牢固健康关系的公司"。

当被问及微软是否希望激励或迫使其他公司效仿时，史密斯没有将微软定位为唯一领导者，他赞扬亚马逊"在该领域做了非常出色且执行到位的工作"，同时表示"行业需要为自己设定更高的标准"。

微软的计划首先从解决电力问题着手，承诺与公用事业公司和监管机构合作，确保其用电成本不会转嫁给居民用户。史密斯以威斯康星州新推出的"超大型客户"费率结构为例，该模式下数据中心需全额支付所用电力成本，包括支持其运营所需的电网升级费用。

该公司的其他承诺包括：

• 到2030年将用水效率提高40%，并承诺在其运营的每个地区补充超过其消耗的水资源。（微软以近期在弗吉尼亚州利斯堡投资2500万美元升级供排水系统为例。）
• 与北美建筑工会建立新的学徒计划合作伙伴关系，并扩展其数据中心学院以提供运营培训。
• 全额缴纳地方房产税，不寻求市政税收减免。
• 通过学校、图书馆和商会提供人工智能培训，并在主要数据中心站点设立新的社区咨询委员会。

人工智能基础设施支出创纪录

微软未透露计划为这些新倡议投入多少资金，这些支出独立于其更广泛的资本支出——该公司第一财季资本支出已接近350亿美元。

当被问及公司是否真能落实所有这些承诺时，史密斯表示："我们必须落实。"他说，微软内部正在"整合一些团队"并"增加资源"以执行该计划，并称这对公司的长期商业战略至关重要。

关于微软的立场如何与OpenAI推动联邦激励措施以支持大规模人工智能基础设施项目的努力相协调，史密斯作出了区分。他表示支持联邦政府在许可和土地获取方面提供帮助，但不支持电力补贴。

"当涉及电价、供水系统、当地就业培训等问题时，这些都是地方性事务，"他说。

史密斯的帖文提及了特朗普政府的人工智能行动计划，并承诺与劳工部在劳动力计划方面合作。微软表示将于7月第一周美国建国250周年之际宣布具体的社区合作伙伴关系。

英文来源：

President Trump was right about Microsoft — but he only leaked part of the story.
Microsoft is changing its approach to building massive data centers for artificial intelligence, unveiling what it calls a “community first” initiative in response to growing opposition from people across the country facing higher electricity bills and dwindling water supplies.
The new plan, announced Tuesday morning in Washington, D.C, includes pledges to pay the company’s full power costs, reject local property tax breaks, replenish more water than it uses, train local workers, and invest in AI education and community programs.
“This sector worked one way in the past, and needs to work in some different ways going forward,” said Brad Smith, Microsoft president and vice chair, in an interview with GeekWire. He later described the shift as “both the right thing to do and the smart thing to do.”
Trump made headlines Monday night with a Truth Social post in advance of the news, saying his administration has been working with tech companies “to secure their commitment to the American People.” He called Microsoft “first up” and said it would “make major changes … to ensure that Americans don’t ‘pick up the tab’ for their POWER consumption.”
Backlash against AI expansion
Microsoft’s rollout comes at a critical juncture for tech.
Amazon, Google, OpenAI, Microsoft and others are betting hundreds of billions of dollars on AI, but those ambitions hinge on their ability to build out the infrastructure to support them — a prospect that depends increasingly on the cooperation of local communities that have grown skeptical of the costs and tradeoffs.
Smith said Microsoft has been developing its initiative since September. He described it as a response to shifting public sentiment — which he witnessed firsthand during visits to his home state of Wisconsin for Microsoft’s data center expansion. Back in 2024, local residents wanted to talk about jobs. By last October, the big topics were electricity prices and water use.
“We saw this catch fire, to a degree, for many other companies in many other places around the country as each month unfolded,” he said.
In data‑center hubs such as Virginia, Illinois and Ohio, residential power prices jumped 12–16% over the past year — noticeably faster than the U.S. average, according to U.S. government data — as grid operators scrambled to add capacity for large new facilities.
The issue has drawn scrutiny on Capitol Hill. Last month, three Democratic senators launched an investigation into whether tech giants are raising residential power bills, sending letters to Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Meta. An Amazon-funded study found that the company more than covers the utility costs associated with its electricity use in some regions
Microsoft’s change of course
Microsoft’s new approach, as outlined in a post by Smith, is a clear departure from its own past practices. The company has accepted tax abatements for data centers in states including Ohio and Iowa, and its identity was kept under wraps in a Michigan township until recently.
In the interview, Smith promised new levels of transparency.
He acknowledged that the traditional approach in the industry was for companies to buy land under nondisclosure agreements to avoid driving up prices — giving them a competitive edge but leaving communities in the dark about who was moving in and how they would operate.
“That is clearly not the path that’s going to take us forward,” he said. The companies that succeed with data centers in the long run, he added, “will be the companies that have a strong and healthy relationship with local communities.”
Asked if Microsoft hopes to inspire or compel others to follow suit, Smith stopped short of positioning Microsoft as the sole leader, crediting Amazon for “really good and well-executed work in this space” while adding that “the industry is going to need to set a higher bar for itself.”
Microsoft’s plan starts by addressing the electricity issue, pledging to work with utilities and regulators to ensure its electricity costs aren’t passed on to residential customers. Smith cited a new “Very Large Customers” rate structure in Wisconsin as a model, where data centers pay the full cost of the power they use, including grid upgrades required to support them.
The company’s other commitments include:

• A 40% improvement in water efficiency by 2030, plus a pledge to replenish more water than it uses in each district where it operates. (Microsoft cited a recent $25 million investment in water and sewer upgrades in Leesburg, Va., as an example.)
• A new partnership with North America’s Building Trades Unions for apprenticeship programs, and expansion of its Datacenter Academy for operations training.
• Full payment of local property taxes, with no requests for municipal tax breaks.
• AI training through schools, libraries, and chambers of commerce, plus new Community Advisory Boards at major data center sites.
  Record spending on AI infrastructure
  Microsoft did not say how much it plans to spend on these new initiatives, separate from its broader capital expenditures, which approached $35 billion in its first fiscal quarter.
  Asked if the company would truly be able to follow through on all of these commitments, Smith said, “we have to follow through.” Internally, he said, Microsoft is “bringing some groups together” and “adding resources” to execute the plan, describing it as essential to the company’s long-term business strategy.
  As for how Microsoft’s position squares with OpenAI’s push for federal incentives to support large-scale AI infrastructure projects, Smith drew a distinction. He said he supports federal help with permitting and land access, but not electricity subsidies.
  “When it comes to things like electricity prices, when it comes to the water system, when it comes to training for local jobs, these are local issues,” he said.
  Smith’s post references the Trump administration’s AI Action Plan and pledges to work with the Department of Labor on workforce programs. Microsoft says it will announce specific community partnerships during the first week of July, timed to America’s 250th anniversary.