Microsoft is breaking from the Big Tech pack in Ohio, telling state lawmakers it will stop using nondisclosure agreements with local governments and will not ask for property tax abatements on new data center projects. It is a rare public split from other hyperscalers at a moment when communities across Ohio are demanding answers about electricity costs, water use, and quiet incentive deals. Activists and some lawmakers say the promise is welcome but warn it will not unwind past arrangements or stop rival companies that still lean on closed-door bargaining.
Those commitments are folded into Microsoft’s Community-First AI Infrastructure plan, outlined in company posts that say the firm will “add to the tax base” and cover its own electricity costs rather than leaning on public subsidies. According to Microsoft, the plan also calls for tighter limits on water use and investments in local workforces. In a follow-up community blog, the company says it is “working to identify any active NDAs” and will coordinate with local governments to end them.
Microsoft’s pledge surfaced during testimony to a state House select committee on data centers, where the company’s state government affairs representative told legislators Microsoft would not use NDAs or seek property tax abatements for its Ohio builds. The rest of the hyperscale field did not follow. Google, Meta, and Amazon defended both their confidentiality agreements and existing incentive packages when they appeared before the same panel. The Ohio Capital Journal reported that lawmakers pressed the companies on water, air, and electric grid impacts throughout the hearing.
What the Pledge Actually Changes and What It Does Not
Microsoft’s own statements emphasize that the new policy is forward-looking. The company says it will work to terminate active NDAs, but, as Microsoft Local notes, it is not unilaterally voiding past agreements, which may stay in place until they are renegotiated. The company has also pledged to “add to the tax base,” but the broader incentive picture in Ohio is still unsettled. Gov. Mike DeWine has paused new data center tax exemption requests while lawmakers study the rapid build-out. The Washington Post has reported on that pause and on efforts to make developers shoulder the cost of grid and water infrastructure upgrades.
Transparency advocates say none of this wipes away years of hidden deals. “Nobody’s going to believe them because they’ve been scamming Ohio for years now,” host Chris Quinn said on Cleveland.com’s "Today in Ohio" podcast, where commentators urged lawmakers to ban NDAs, end public subsidies, and require full disclosure for future data centers. Cleveland.com covered the podcast remarks and the skepticism that followed Microsoft’s announcement.
How Lawmakers Could Lock In Transparency
Ohio legislators have several tools in play. Proposals include creating a Data Center Study Commission, bills that would require utilities and facilities to file monthly reports on water and energy use, and measures to overhaul or end state incentives that critics say push costs onto residents. The Ohio House has already advanced language to establish the study commission, and local reporting notes that members in both parties are looking at tariffs and disclosure rules designed to keep ratepayers from subsidizing hyperscale expansion. For more on the political push, see how Democrats are described in taking aim at grid-straining centers and the Ohio House release on the commission.
Bottom Line for Ohio Communities
Microsoft’s move changes the public stance of one major player and could raise expectations for future negotiations, but it does not automatically rewrite existing contracts or compel rivals to follow suit. Ohio already hosts more than 200 data centers, many clustered around Columbus, so the fight over water, power, and who ultimately pays is still in its early rounds. WOSU reports that central Ohio alone has roughly 134 of those facilities, and residents will be watching the new study commission and upcoming hearings to see whether voluntary corporate promises turn into rules with teeth.
