Trump says Microsoft will pay more for its datacenters’ electricity
Donald Trump said he is partnering with tech companies to ensure the large energy-hungry datacenters vital for AI do not drive up electricity bills in the US.On Tuesday, the US president announced that Microsoft was “first up”.“We are the ‘HOTTEST’ Country in the World, and Number One in AI.Data Centers are key to that boom, and keeping Americans FREE and SECURE but, the big Technology Companies who build them must ‘pay their own way.’” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“Thank you, and congratulations to Microsoft.”Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president, outlined the company’s plan at an event on Tuesday near the White House titled Community-First AI Infrastructure.He said the initiative aimed to minimize water use and ensure that Microsoft’s electricity usage does not add to individuals’ utility rates.In towns where Microsoft has datacenters, he said, the company would pay its property taxes and accept neither tax reductions nor electricity rate discounts.“Like major buildouts of the past, AI infrastructure is expensive and complex,” Smith wrote in a blogpost on Tuesday.
“This revives a longstanding question: how can our nation build transformative infrastructure in a way that strengthens, rather than strains, the local communities where it takes root?”Trump has embraced AI during his second term in office, hosting tech CEOs at the White House and Mar-a-Lago.He has signed executive orders to deregulate AI, hasten innovation and ease environmental rules to expedite federal permitting for datacenters.But as concern over affordability and backlash against datacenters have rippled across the country, Trump seems to be modifying his stance.Trump said he was starting his electricity bill reduction plan with Microsoft but that he was also working with other major tech companies to make similar pledges.As datacenters have rapidly cropped up across the country, local communities have protested against the projects, saying the facilities are raising electricity costs, draining water resources and polluting neighborhoods.
The outrage is bipartisan – stretching from red states such as Oklahoma, Tennessee and Louisiana to blue ones such as Oregon, California and New York.In rural Wisconsin, Microsoft scrapped plans for a new datacenter after community opposition that included concern over a surge in electricity rates.Datacenters consume vast amounts of power and water, and those facilities geared toward AI are especially intensive.One large-scale datacenter can use the same amount of electricity as a small city and consume as much as a million gallons of water per day.The International Energy Agency estimates total electricity from data centers worldwide could double through 2026 from 2022 levels – roughly equaling what is used by the entire country of Japan per year.
Microsoft has seen its carbon emissions grow by 23% since 2020 because of the multiplying of its AI datacenters,Other tech companies, including Google, Amazon and Meta, have also seen considerable increases in their emissions due to the boom in AI,
John Higgins and Kyren Wilson win at Masters as curious run of 6-2 scorelines goes on
Kyren Wilson, the 2024 world champion, defeated Si Jiahui in impressive fashion to reach the Masters quarter-finals with the 6-2 result continuing a curious statistic: every match at Alexandra Palace this week had finished with the same scoreline. That record extended in the evening session as John Higgins saw off Barry Hawkins, 6-2, to reach the last eight.After edging the first frame following a run of snookers, Wilson – yet to win a tournament this season having broken his cue at the start of the campaign – looked set to build a maximum in the next, but just missed the 11th red into the bottom corner pocket as he moved 2-0 ahead.Si got on the board with a well-crafted break of 97 before the world No 2, who lost to Shaun Murphy in last year’s Masters final, dug in to re-establish his lead at 3-1 heading into the mid-session interval.Although Si pulled another one back by taking a close fifth frame, Wilson, looking to move on from a disappointing first-round exit to Elliot Slessor at the UK Championship, then took the sixth 82-28 before closing out an impressive victory with successive century breaks of 101 and 105
Shiffrin extends slalom stranglehold as Moltzan seals US one-two in Flachau
Mikaela Shiffrin completed another dominant night in Flachau, Austria, on Tuesday, winning a World Cup slalom to extend her season-long stranglehold on the discipline while leading an American one-two finish with teammate Paula Moltzan.Shiffrin followed up her fastest opening run with a composed second run to finish 0.41sec clear of Moltzan, claiming her sixth victory in seven slalom races this season. It was also Shiffrin’s record-extending 107th career World Cup win, her 70th in slalom and her sixth slalom victory on the demanding Flachau course.Moltzan, who was chasing her first career World Cup win, delivered a strong second run to secure second place, marking another podium in a season that has seen her establish herself among the world’s most consistent technical skiers
The hidden hierarchy of tennis practice courts: ‘I was back in the park, smelling the weed’
The unwritten rule in professional tournaments? Do not hog the practice court. But as leading players testify – the reality is very differentOn a cool Wednesday afternoon before the US Open last year, Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev were busy fine-tuning their games in an intense practice set at Louis Armstrong Stadium. Danielle Collins and Christian Harrison, semi-finalists in the mixed doubles tournament, were scheduled to take their place at the hour and the American pair duly arrived a couple of minutes before their allotted slot.An amusing scene soon unfolded. Medvedev and Zverev were clearly desperate to continue playing for a little longer, but their court time had run out
Pittsburgh Steelers part ways with head coach Mike Tomlin after 19 seasons
Head coach Mike Tomlin is leaving the Pittsburgh Steelers after 19 seasons, the team confirmed on Tuesday.“Obviously, I am extremely grateful to Mike for all the hard work, dedication and success we have shared over the last 19 years. It is hard for me to put into words the level of respect and appreciation I have for Coach Tomlin,” Steelers president Art Rooney II said in a statement. “He guided the franchise to our sixth Super Bowl championship and made the playoffs 13 times during his tenure, including winning the AFC North eight times in his career.”Rooney added that the decision was ultimately down to Tomlin, saying the head coach had “decided to step down”
Finn Russell ready for bruising clash with Scotland colleagues against Edinburgh
Finn Russell is braced for a potentially bruising reunion with his Scottish international teammates but is intent on winning the “bragging rights” when Bath host Edinburgh on Friday in their Champions Cup pool decider. Russell has already messaged Duhan van der Merwe to warn him to expect a tough night and says the English champions are seeking to sharpen their attacking game in pursuit of a crucial home draw for the knockout phase.With the victorious side at the Rec set to top pool 2, the Scottish playmaker is anticipating a physical examination from an Edinburgh team he knows extremely well. “I’d imagine there’ll be a couple of late shots and being held on the ground which is always the case when you’re against your old side,” said Russell, who spent the first half of his professional career at Glasgow.“I’m not sure what the weather will be like but if it’s like it is now there’ll be a lot of balls going up in the air
Sport England suspends X social media account and takes aim at Elon Musk
Sport England has revealed that it has suspended its account on X, because the social media platform “increasingly promotes and monetises an environment that is hostile to women and girls”.In a blog post explaining the decision the Sport England chair, Chris Boardman, criticised X’s AI platform tool, Grok, saying it had “contributed to the amplification of and worse, normalisation of, misogynistic content”.“That runs directly counter to what we stand for,” said Boardman, who sits at the heart of a funding agency that invests £250m a year in grassroots sport and community projects. Regarding the decision to withdraw from X, he also pointed to the fact members of the England women’s football squad were attacked on the platform last summer. “Sport should always be a place where everyone feels safe and welcome,” he said
LGB+ people in England and Wales ‘much’ more likely to die by suicide than straight people
Football fan took his own life after using illegal ‘predatory’ betting sites, inquest told
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‘He tried so hard to get help’: the tragic results of NHS right-to-choose for ADHD patients
Death on the inside: as a prison officer, I saw how the system perpetuates violence