Amazon ends use of NDAs in data center deals with local governments

Amazon said it will stop using non-disclosure agreements, or NDAs, when negotiating data center deals with local governments. The move follows a similar change at Microsoft earlier this year, as both companies try to answer growing public anger over how AI infrastructure gets built in American communities.

For years, companies building large data centers negotiated with city councils and county boards under agreements that kept details of the deals, including land, tax breaks, water use and electricity demand, out of public view until projects were already approved. Amazon says it will no longer require that secrecy going forward.

The shift comes as opposition to data centers has turned into a nationwide fight. According to TechCrunch, community pushback against AI infrastructure has produced hundreds of proposed and enacted moratoriums, pauses or bans on new construction, in places ranging from New York to San Francisco. Residents in many of these areas have objected to deals being struck without public input, alongside concerns about how much electricity and water the facilities consume.

Whether removing NDAs actually fixes that trust problem is a separate question. TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosted by Anthony Ha, Sean O’Kane and Rebecca Bellan, discussed the move on a recent episode and framed it as a test of whether transparency alone can repair relationships between tech companies and the towns hosting their server farms. Dropping an NDA does not by itself answer the questions that have driven local resistance, including how much power and water a facility will draw, what tax revenue a town will actually collect, and how long any promised jobs will last.

Amazon and Microsoft are not the only companies under this pressure. The scale of data center construction tied to the AI boom has made the issue hard for local officials to ignore, and other developers are likely to face calls to match the new disclosure standard. The same Equity episode noted a separate trend worth watching: a wave of AI startups betting that consumers will grant AI agents access to their inboxes, files and payment details, a parallel bet that trust, not just capability, decides whether people adopt new technology.

What happens next depends on how local governments respond once deal terms are actually public. Ending NDAs removes one point of friction, but it does not resolve the disputes over resource use and community benefit that drove the moratorium wave. Whether more open negotiations lead to fewer blocked projects, or simply give opponents clearer targets, should become evident as the next round of data center proposals moves through city councils and county boards.