White House eyes data center agreements amid energy price spikes

The initiative, which the administration wants to roll out with a splashy White House event, has yet to be formally announced – and it remains unclear which companies have agreed to the compact or been invited to participate.

The compact would mark one of the most ambitious efforts to shape the footprint of AI infrastructure without imposing direct regulation, and comes a month after the White House made an unprecedented appeal to the mid-Atlantic energy grid operator to try to lower electricity prices.

Concerns have steadily risen that data centers’ enormous appetite for energy could drive prices up even more, which could become even more of a political liability for an administration that’s been all-in on the rapid, unbridled development of data centers. The compact is one way to try to tout work to blunt their impact ahead of the midterms.

“As President Trump announced weeks ago, top tech companies are working with the President to ‘pick up the tab’ for their power consumption as they build data centers. More to come soon!” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in a statement.

A White House official said the draft is “is outdated and no longer accurate” without specifying which parts have changed.

__ And much more in the article. More question than answers, but something is going on.