Amazon says it will add more than $1 billion over the next five years, on top of what it already gives, for U.S. communities that host its data centers, the buildings full of computers that store data and run AI services. The program, called Built Together, was announced on Friday, Oct. 2, in a post by Matt Garman, who runs Amazon Web Services, the company's business that rents out computing power over the internet. It comes amid a growing backlash against the AI building boom: Garman wrote that more than 100 proposed moratoriums, or temporary bans, on new data centers are being considered across the country.
Amazon says the money goes to three areas. The first covers community college certificates and two-year degrees in fields such as electrical work and heating and air conditioning, with Amazon paying whatever financial aid does not cover. Amazon estimates more than 300,000 students will get free degree access over five years. It also plans 16 more training centers on or near its sites, adding to three it runs today and six already in development. The second offers grants for energy upgrades such as heat pumps and insulation, aiming to reach more than 300 schools and community buildings and more than 30,000 homes over five years. The third gives local nonprofits and community foundations yearly funding for projects residents choose, such as roads, parks and fire equipment.
Amazon also wrote down a set of practices it says it already follows, which it calls the Amazon Data Center Commitment. It says it no longer uses nondisclosure agreements, which keep a project's details confidential, with the government agencies it works with. Amazon says the change applies only to new agreements and it does not plan to revisit past ones. It also has not promised to stop seeking local tax breaks, as Microsoft pledged to do in January.
The commitment says Amazon works with utilities and regulators so that what it pays for power covers the electricity and grid upgrades its sites need, with the aim of keeping its data centers from raising local bills. It will use backup generators, which run during power outages, that meet the cleanest federal emission standard at new sites, and will publish its energy and water use every year. Garman wrote that Amazon's average data center uses less than 13,000 gallons of water a day, about as much as 42 U.S. households, and that rising power rates mostly reflect an aging grid. Federal figures show home electricity prices in Virginia and Illinois rose much faster than the national average in the year to August 2025.
The new money is small next to what Amazon is spending to build. The company expects to spend about $220 billion this year on buildings and equipment, mostly data centers and chips. The new money works out to about $200 million a year, about one-tenth of 1 percent of that. Amazon has not given a full breakdown, though it says more than $100 million will go up front into community college endowments, money colleges invest to pay costs over time, and about another $100 million to expanding its training centers. It says the college and energy programs will start in the coming months, and it is not yet clear which communities will be first.