By Jarrett Renshaw and Laila Kearney
Feb 25 (REUTERS) - The White House plans to host leading data center and artificial intelligence companies including Microsoft MSFT.O, Anthropic and Meta Platforms META.O in early March to formalize a deal to shield consumers from rising electricity costs, according to two sources familiar with the plans.
The meeting is expected to advance an initiative President Donald Trump unveiled during his State of the Union address on Tuesday, in which he said he had told major technology firms they must build their own power plants to run the rapidly-expanding fleet of data centers and other artificial intelligence infrastructure.
The pledge under discussion is expected to resemble commitments already offered earlier this year by Microsoft MSFT.O to invest in new electricity generation and efficiency measures, the sources said.
"We appreciate the Administration’s work to ensure that data centers don’t contribute to higher electricity prices for consumers," said Brad Smith, Microsoft's Vice Chair and President. The company did not say whether it would be in attendance next week or whether it would sign any new pledge.
The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for Meta declined to comment and Anthropic did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump has made the global AI race, and securing the vast amounts of electricity needed to power it, a primary focus of his second term. That agenda, however, has become politically precarious ahead of the midterms as energy demand growth from data centers pushes up power bills over a wide swath of the country.
The recent proliferation of giant data center projects — needed for the expansion of artificial intelligence technologies — has been met with increasing local and state protests over concerns of rising bills and pollution tied to the developments.
(Reporting by Laila Kearney and Jarrett Renshaw; editing by Timothy Gardner)
((laila.kearney@thomsonreuters.com))
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