Amazon ends data center NDAs amid AI backlash

Amazon will stop requiring nondisclosure agreements when negotiating data center deals with local governments, following a similar decision by Microsoft earlier this year. The change, first reported by TechCrunch, comes as secrecy around AI infrastructure has fueled community resistance, with hundreds of proposed and enacted moratoriums from New York to San Francisco.

The policy shift arrives as startups race to build the next layer of AI infrastructure. Emerald AI, which raised $150 million in August for data center power technology, and Delos Data, a chip startup led by former Intel engineers that secured $100 million last month, are among those betting on the growing demand for AI-driven compute. Meanwhile, Together AI’s recent partnership with a Saudi firm to access overseas data centers suggests that startups are already looking beyond U.S. borders for capacity.

Amazon’s decision may ease some local tensions, but it doesn’t address the broader concerns driving opposition—chiefly, the strain AI data centers place on power grids and water supplies. Whether transparency alone will be enough to win over skeptical communities remains unclear. For now, the move is less about solving the problem than acknowledging it.

Sources: techcrunch.com