Amazon offers $1 billion and more openness to data-center communities

Amazon will spend more than $1 billion over five years in U.S. communities that host its data centers, which provide the computing capacity behind cloud services and AI. The money is intended for programs such as free community-college access, job training, energy-efficiency upgrades and locally chosen projects. Amazon also said it would no longer use nondisclosure agreements with government agencies on data-center projects and would publish annual energy- and water-use information. The package is a response to growing local resistance from residents worried about power bills, water use and deals struck out of public view; for Amazon, winning trust in host communities is becoming as important to expanding AI infrastructure as finding land and electricity.