Trump Tells Data Center Builders to Pay Host Communities a Dividend

President Donald Trump said early on Wednesday that companies building data centers should pay the community that hosts them a dividend if they want the projects to be popular. The call came in a Truth Social post published at 1:37 a.m. Eastern time, Reuters reported.

"I have watched the process closely, and data centers that were highly unpopular in a certain area, have become extremely popular when a financial deal is struck," Trump wrote. "If companies want their data centers to be popular, pay the community and/or individuals within the community a dividend."

Power first, Trump says

Trump said he has watched data centers very closely and reached a strong conclusión about power. New and large data centers, in some cases gigantic ones, are mandated by him to make their own electricity, he wrote, and to give or sell any excess back to the local community or the grid. On that basis, he said, there should be no electric price increase, and prices could in fact fall substantially. He ended the post with a direct call: "MAKE DEALS, and get them built."

The post did not set an amount for a dividend, say who would qualify, or explain how a payment would be calculated or enforced. It also did not announce a formal program or a funding mechanism.

Why the projects face a fight

Data centers that power the growth of artificial intelligence have become a political flashpoint in communities across the United States, Reuters reported, with opposition uniting voters across ideological lines. Local fights often turn on water and electricity, and on fears that homes and small businesses will end up behind large technology companies in line for both.

The White House has tried to answer that anger before. Its AI data center Ratepayer Protection Pledge asks developers to cover the cost of the power infrastructure their projects need, and the administration has expanded the pledge to nearly 200 more participants, according to earlier reporting on the push.

A return to an idea from September

Trump floated a version of the dividend idea on September 30, after a White House meeting with about 40 technology industry leaders. That day he suggested bonuses for teachers and direct payments for people living near data centers, and said the companies would be generous to host towns and counties, financially and otherwise. No formal program or funding requirement was announced then either.

Wednesday's post puts the idea in writing, ties it to his power rule for new centers, and frames a payment as the price of local support. Whether companies offer such payments, and whether host communities accept them, is now a local negotiation in places where projects are planned.