By TOI Tech Desk
Publication Date: 2026-02-12 13:16:00
Three of the world’s biggest AI companies made nearly identical promises within 30 days. Microsoft kicked things off on January 13, pledging to cover the full electricity costs of its data centres. OpenAI followed on January 21. Anthropic joined on February 11. Same playbook. Same month. The reason? A White House draft compact, obtained by Politico, reveals the Trump administration is preparing a voluntary agreement that would require AI companies to pay 100% of new power generation costs tied to their data centres. The companies aren’t leading—they’re getting ahead of the announcement while they still get to set the…