Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, xAI, Oracle and OpenAI to sign Trump’s Rate Payer Protection Pledge on AI power
Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, xAI, Oracle and OpenAI will attend a White House event on March 4 to sign the Rate Payer Protection Pledge announced by President Donald Trump. The pledge requires major tech firms to build, buy, or bring their own power supply for new AI data centres so household electricity bills do not rise as AI-related demand grows. The White House said the initiative is led by Trump alongside Energy Secretary Chris Wright and OSTP director Michael Kratsios and follows Trump’s State of the Union announcement. Commercial data shows primary US data centre markets ended 2025 with a record-low 1.4% vacancy and 9,432 MW of capacity after 36% year‑over‑year growth; net absorption hit 2,497.6 MW. Pricing pressure rose: average monthly asking rates for 250–500 kW requirements increased 6.5% to $195.94 per kW, while 3–10 MW pricing rose 12.5%. New capacity under construction fell for the first time since 2020 amid permitting, zoning and power procurement hurdles (5,994.4 MW under construction at end-2025 vs 6,350.1 MW in 2024). The pledge aims to avoid pushing grid costs onto consumers amid rapid AI-driven data centre expansion in states such as Texas, Louisiana and Pennsylvania, where hyperscalers are expanding campuses.
Neutral
The pledge targets power procurement and grid impact rather than directly affecting crypto assets or on‑chain markets, so its immediate impact on crypto prices is limited and thus neutral. Short-term effects: traders may see sector rotations into infrastructure and cloud equities rather than crypto; marginal sentiment gains for AI and cloud-related tokens or equities could spill into risk‑on behavior, but any move will be indirect. Long-term effects: by encouraging hyperscalers to secure their own power, the pledge could ease concerns about grid strain and reduce regulatory backlash that might hamper large AI deployments—this supports continued growth of AI infrastructure, benefiting tokens and projects tied to AI compute or data markets. Historical parallels: infrastructure or policy assurances (e.g., cloud capacity commitments, government incentives) tend to bolster investor confidence in associated sectors without producing direct, sustained moves in crypto markets. Key indicators traders should watch: announcements of large-scale power purchases or PPAs, hyperscaler capital expenditure for AI campuses, regional grid upgrades, and any policy language that ties power costs to utilities or taxes. Those signals would influence risk appetite and correlate with broader tech and infrastructure asset flows rather than drive immediate crypto market directional moves.