Amazon Web Services has committed more than $1 billion over the next five years to communities hosting its data centres, launching a programme called 'Built Together' that will fund free community college tuition, job training, energy upgrades for homes and schools, and locally identified projects. AWS chief executive Matt Garman announced the commitments on Friday in a roughly 3,100-word blog post that compared the data centre buildout to the US interstate highway system. The new funding is in addition to more than $1 billion Amazon says it has directed to US data centre communities over the past three years.
Alongside the financial pledge, Amazon said it will stop using nondisclosure agreements with government agencies on new data centre projects, install lower-emission backup generators at new sites, publish its energy and water use annually, and pay enough for power to keep local electricity bills from rising. The company said the NDA change applies going forward and that it does not plan to revisit past agreements, arguing most no longer apply once a project becomes public.
Garman's post addressed what he described as more than 100 data centre moratoriums being considered across the country, warning that if enacted the US could be 'writing its own losing ticket' in the AI race. He attributed part of the local opposition to 'misinformation and outright lies' and cited reports of foreign countries seeding misinformation in the US about data centres. Amazon said its average data centre uses less than 13,000 gallons of water a day and that backup generators sit idle 99.9% of the time. On the $1 billion commitment, the company said it expects to put more than $100 million up front into community college endowments and roughly another $100 million into expanding its training centres, with plans to cover out-of-pocket community college costs for an estimated 300,000 students and to build 16 additional training centres on or near data centre sites.
The announcement arrives as Amazon pursues an expansive capital programme: the company is projecting approximately $220 billion in capital expenditure this year, largely on data centres and chips, and has invested $276 billion in data centres between 2011 and 2025. Amazon has also issued over $62 billion in bonds in 2026 to fund its AI buildout.
Amazon's moves follow similar steps by rivals. Microsoft announced in January 2026 that it would stop seeking local tax breaks for its data centres, and in March said it would terminate existing nondisclosure agreements with local governments. Meta announced a $1 billion fund in August 2026 directed at communities hosting its data centres. Amazon was also among seven companies that signed a White House pledge in March to pay for the power and grid upgrades their data centres require. The broader scrutiny of the industry has included a congressional dimension: House Judiciary Committee ranking Democrat Jamie Raskin launched an investigation into Amazon, Alphabet's Google, Meta Platforms, and Oracle over their use of secrecy agreements with local officials on data centre deals, demanding the companies hand over those agreements and disclose projected electricity and water usage. Amazon's carbon emissions rose 16% last year as the company expanded its data centre capacity; chief sustainability officer Kara Hurst said at Climate Week NYC that Amazon remains committed to net-zero emissions by 2040.
Sources: Bloomberg, GeekWire, Reuters, Quartz