President Trump is taking aim at the biggest hidden cost of the AI boom: electricity.
In a Truth Social post Monday night, Trump said the explosion of AI data centers must “never” lead to higher power prices for Americans, and claimed the administration is working with major U.S. tech companies to secure commitments that households won’t be stuck “picking up the tab.”
His first named target: Microsoft $MSFT ( ▼ 1.36% ) , which Trump said will make “major changes beginning this week” related to its power consumption.
AI Boom, Meet Your Electric Bill
The issue is pretty simple: hyperscalers want to build AI infrastructure at full speed, but those data centers pull enormous amounts of power.
And in a political environment increasingly focused on affordability, electricity prices are an easy pressure point. Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows average electricity costs per kilowatt-hour have risen about 40% since early 2021, though that also overlaps with a broader inflation wave.
Still, the narrative is building that AI could be contributing to rising household power costs, and Trump is clearly trying to get ahead of it.
Microsoft’s DC Event Is Perfect Timing
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith is scheduled to speak today in Washington at an event focused on AI opportunity and cost.
The company teased the event before Trump posted, saying the U.S. is entering a new era shaped by AI, raising big questions like:
who benefits from AI
what the impacts are
who bears the cost of critical AI infrastructure
Trump’s post basically answers that question with one sentence: Big Tech pays.
The Real Bottleneck Isn’t Chips, It’s Power
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella previously explained the key constraint holding back AI deployment is not GPU supply. It’s power access and build speed.
He said the problem is getting builds done fast enough close to power, meaning companies can end up with chips sitting around that they cannot even plug in because there are not enough ready facilities.
So this Trump energy push is not a side issue. It directly intersects with the AI rollout itself.
Meta’s Nuclear Deals Show the New Playbook
Other tech giants are already navigating this political risk.
Meta $META ( ▼ 1.7% ) , for example, has been announcing nuclear power agreements while emphasizing that these deals add net-new supply to the PJM region, basically signaling: we’re not stealing power from households.
That framing matters because the political backlash would be brutal if voters start associating AI with higher monthly bills.
The Three-Goal Problem: Something Has to Give
Policy analysts have argued the Trump administration may only be able to achieve two of these three goals at once:
preside over an AI boom
boost fossil fuel production over renewables
avoid household anger over high energy prices
Trump’s latest comments show he’s choosing a clear direction: if AI data centers are non-negotiable, then Big Tech must shoulder the energy cost.
Bottom line: Trump is putting tech companies on notice. America can be “Number One in AI,” but the public cannot be the one subsidizing the power bill.