President Donald Trump threw his support behind AI data centers, explaining that if developers “pick the right location” they can help create jobs, lower taxes, and bring in money.
While taking questions from reporters at Joint Base Andrews on Friday, Trump was asked about how several Republicans running in the midterm elections have come out against AI data centers and why he thought they were “taking a different approach” to them. Trump explained how the subject of AI data centers was “a pretty simple one” to him and highlighted how data center developers have been “mandated … that they build their own electricity.”
“The data center subject to me is a pretty simple one. If you pick the right location — and it’s got to be — not every location’s perfect for it,” Trump said. “But if you pick the right location, what it means for a community is jobs and lots of money and lower taxes. And the data centers now are mandated by me that they build their own electricity, so they’re not taking it from the grid.”
Trump continued to explain that data centers would “lower the electric costs, because they’re building electricity.”
“They’re going to build their own electric producing facility. And, that electricity that they have left over is going to the grid, it’s going to lower the cost of electricity,” Trump said, adding that if he were a community, he would “want the data center” because “it means jobs, it means income, and it means lower taxes.”
When asked by a reporter if he wanted Republican candidates to take the same stance on AI data centers, Trump replied that he wants Republicans “to do what they want.”
Trump added that if he were in charge of a community or served as a mayor or the governor of a state, he would be in favor of data centers “because they bring tremendous income” and “they’re clean.”
On Wednesday, while speaking at the White House, Trump also stated that if he “were the mayor of a town or the governor of a state” and he was given the opportunity “to get a big plant in, an AI plant or a data center,” he would want it, Fox Business reported.
A Gallup survey conducted between March 2-18, 2026, found that 48 percent of Americans strongly oppose the construction of AI data centers in their communities, while 23 percent somewhat oppose the construction of AI data centers in their communities. The survey also found that 20 percent somewhat favor the construction of AI data centers, while seven percent strongly favor the construction of AI data centers.