Microsoft Tries to Address Concerns About Data Centers: They’ll Be Good Neighbors?

Jan. 13, 2026

— Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs

Across the Lehigh Valley and the U.S., residents are worried about data centers and Artificial Intelligence.

The concerns focus on the huge amounts of electricity and water data centers will consume, and what it means for the job market.

Today, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) announced five principles in an attempt to ease those concerns.

They’re promising to be good.

A blog post from Microsoft President Brad Smith calls the initiative the company’s Community-First AI Infrastructure, “a commitment to do this work differently than some others and to do it responsibly. This commits us to the concrete steps needed to be a good neighbor in the communities where we build, own, and operate our datacenters.”

The statement may be meant to ease fears but it suggests Microsoft being involved in a lot of things that are the responsibility of local government and regulators, not an immense corporation.

The five principles are listed in Smith’s blog post, but here they are in short form:

— Microsoft will not push up electricity prices.

— The company will replenish more water than it uses.

— Microsoft will train construction workers and data center staff to create jobs.

— Microsoft won’t seek tax breaks to build data centers.

— Microsoft will spend money on training and give to local non-profit groups.

Smith recognizes concerns about data centers and AI, and those concerns are real and at this time, nobody can really say what’s going to happen.

So far, the AI I see in daily life is mostly garbage: nonsensical responses to questions, poor customer service online and time-wasting click-bait junk on the Internet.

Here’s Smith’s comment on the AI future:

“As a company, we believe in the many positive advances AI will bring to America’s future. From stronger economic growth to better medical advances and more affordable products, we believe AI will make a difference in everyday lives. But we also recognize that AI, like other fundamental technological shifts, will create new challenges as well,” he wrote in the post. 

So we will see. Microsoft is a big deal (share price $486.28, market capitalization $3.48 trillion) but even if it is sincere, it’s not the dominant company in the field. Nvidia, Amazon, Oracle, Apple and others will have their say, and I don’t expect people to trust what is said.

Nor should they.

Meanwhile, local governments such as Easton’s seek to rein in data centers but when a city or county is up against trillion-dollar companies, don’t count on a local ordinance making the difference.

— Disclosure: I own shares in Microsoft and other companies with AI connections.