Amazon Web Services will no longer ask local governments to sign nondisclosure agreements before approving new data center projects. AWS CEO Matt Garman announced the change October 2 in a post on Amazon's corporate site, alongside a five-year pledge of more than $1 billion to communities that host AWS data centers, under a program Amazon calls Built Together.
AWS Ends Data Center NDAs After Congress Opens an Inquiry
Garman's post came three days after the Wall Street Journal reported that Rep. Jamie Raskin had sent letters to Amazon, Google, Meta, and Oracle requesting details on the nondisclosure agreements each company had signed with local officials over AI data center projects. House Judiciary Committee Democrats opened their inquiry September 29. Amazon said the NDA change applies only to agreements going forward and that it does not plan to revisit agreements it has already signed. Microsoft had already ended NDAs with local governments on future projects earlier in 2026.
Built Together Pledges $1 Billion to Education, Energy and Water Programs
Amazon says Built Together could give more than 300,000 residents of data center communities free access to community college degrees, plus skilled-trades certification through new Modular Training Centers built near its sites. The company is offering grants for energy-efficiency upgrades, including heat pumps, insulation, and solar, to schools, community buildings, and homes in those areas. Amazon committed to becoming water-positive across its data centers by 2030 and said it will publish annual figures on its energy use, water use, and share of carbon-free power. It also promised that its data centers will not raise local residents' electricity bills.
Garman Says More Than 100 Moratoriums Are at Stake
Garman tied the announcement to local resistance against new data centers, writing that "over 100 data center moratoriums being considered across the country" could slow the buildout AI companies say they need. He warned that enacting those measures could put the United States at a disadvantage, and he referenced reports of foreign governments spreading misinformation about data centers in the U.S. Data Center Watch, a research firm, found that local opposition blocked or delayed at least 75 U.S. data center projects worth roughly $130 billion in the first quarter of 2026. An Economist/YouGov poll taken in late August found 63% of Americans would oppose a data center being built in their community.
Richmond County, North Carolina Shows Why Trust Broke Down
The backlash Garman is responding to traces partly to deals like the one in Richmond County, North Carolina, where local officials signed NDAs before Amazon announced a $10 billion data center campus of up to 21 buildings in June 2025. The Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina called it the largest single capital investment announcement in the state's history. In September 2026, environmental groups filed a legal challenge against state air-quality permits covering nearly 600 permanent and more than 50 temporary backup diesel generators at Amazon sites in the county.
Critics Say the Fund Still Leaves Pollution Unaddressed
Environmental group Stand.Earth called Built Together "a flailing attempt at damage control." The group pointed to a gas-fired power plant planned near Pecos, Texas, to supply a planned Amazon data center, permitted to release up to 33 million tons of carbon dioxide a year, which it said Amazon's new commitments do not address. Stand.Earth said ending NDAs would likely improve transparency but argued the dollar figure Amazon is offering communities is small next to what the company stands to spend on the data centers themselves.
The Pledge Is a Small Share of Amazon's Infrastructure Budget
Built Together's roughly $200 million a year in new spending is small next to Amazon's infrastructure budget. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told investors in 2026 that the company raised its full-year capital spending guidance to $220 billion, largely to keep pace with AI demand across AWS. Garman's post does not address that gap directly, instead framing Built Together as an addition to what Amazon already spends in host communities.
Why This Matters for Engineering Leadership
Engineering leaders negotiating AI infrastructure capacity, whether through direct data center deals or cloud contracts tied to AWS, Google Cloud, or Microsoft Azure, should expect vendors to face the same disclosure pressure Amazon is now responding to. A congressional inquiry into NDAs signed by four of the largest cloud providers signals that opacity in AI infrastructure procurement is becoming a governance liability that reaches beyond community relations. CTOs and procurement teams evaluating long-term capacity commitments should factor community investment, permitting risk, and local moratoriums into total cost of ownership, since Data Center Watch's tally of $130 billion in blocked or delayed projects shows that community opposition can stall capacity leaders are counting on. TechCrunch's Equity podcast co-host Sean O'Kane put the industry's core problem plainly on the October 11 episode: "the industry just does a really poor job explaining itself." That's as true for an engineering organization standing up its own AI infrastructure as it is for Amazon.
FAQ
What did Amazon announce about data center NDAs?
On October 2, 2026, AWS CEO Matt Garman said Amazon will stop asking local governments to sign nondisclosure agreements before approving new data center projects. The change applies only to agreements going forward.
How much is Amazon's Built Together program worth?
Amazon pledged more than $1 billion over five years to communities that host its data centers, through a program called Built Together.
Why did Amazon end the NDA requirement now?
The announcement came three days after the Wall Street Journal reported that Rep. Jamie Raskin had sent letters to Amazon, Google, Meta, and Oracle asking about their data center NDAs, following a House Judiciary Committee inquiry opened September 29.
Did Amazon end its existing NDAs too?
No. Amazon said the policy change applies only to future agreements and that it does not plan to revisit NDAs it has already signed with local officials.
Is the $1 billion pledge large compared to Amazon's spending?
No. It works out to about $200 million a year, a small fraction of the $220 billion in 2026 capital spending Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told investors to expect.
What do critics say about Built Together?
Environmental group Stand.Earth called the fund "a flailing attempt at damage control" and said it does not address pollution from power plants built to supply Amazon's data centers, including one planned near Pecos, Texas.