Jan 13 (Reuters) – Microsoft on Tuesday launched a community-focused plan to reduce water use at its U.S. companies. data centers and ensuring power-hungry facilities do not drive up electricity prices for the public.
The company will pay utility rates high enough to cover its electricity costs and work with local utilities to expand power supplies and add needed infrastructure to the grid when the data center needs it.
Microsoft has also committed to replenishing more water than its data centers consume. The company said it will begin publishing water use information for each data center region in the United States, as well as water replenishment progress.
The news comes after U.S. President Donald Trump said the tech giant would make “significant changes” to its plans for artificial intelligence infrastructure to ensure consumers don’t pay more for electricity because of power consumption in data centers.
(Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)