Amazon Web Services says it is done asking local governments to sign nondisclosure agreements before green-lighting data center projects, a policy reversal paired with a new $1 billion community investment program called Built Together. The announcement, tied to AWS operations in Richmond County, North Carolina, comes amid concerns about secrecy around data center projects.
According to WSOC-TV, Richmond County leaders had signed nondisclosure agreements with Amazon before the company's June 2025 announcement of a $10 billion data center campus spanning up to 21 buildings — a project the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina calls the largest single capital investment announcement in the state's history. AWS CEO Matt Garman said the company now intends to share information about its plans as early as possible, listen to community concerns, and let residents engage as projects progress, per the same station's report. Amazon officials also said they will hold open houses to share project details and encourage dialogue going forward.
A Site Already Under Legal Fire
The Richmond County campus has not been without friction. In September, environmental groups filed a legal challenge against North Carolina regulators over air quality permits granted to Amazon for nearly 600 backup diesel generators and more than 50 temporary generators at the site, according to WSOC TV. That dispute illustrates the kind of local environmental friction that has made secrecy around data center siting especially contentious for nearby residents and activists.
Garman also pushed back on what he described as misconceptions about data center water use, electricity costs, pollution, and community benefits, while framing the infrastructure as essential to national competitiveness. He said countries that lead in artificial intelligence will shape it and reap the most economic and national-security rewards, and warned that any lapse in national focus or resolve on AI could leave the United States behind. Amazon says it works with local utilities, regulators, policymakers, and grid operators to prevent its data centers from raising community electricity bills, and that it pays energy prices sufficient to cover the energy and infrastructure improvements the centers require.
Built Together's $1 Billion Promise
The newly named Built Together initiative is structured as a five-year, $1 billion community investment program focused on areas where Amazon builds data centers, covering education and workforce pathways, community energy affordability and water solutions, and flexible funding for local priorities that communities themselves help direct. According to Quartz, the program commits to covering community college tuition and fees for an estimated 300,000 students over five years, expanding trade certification centers from three to 25 by 2028, and funding energy efficiency upgrades for more than 30,000 homes and 300 schools and public buildings.
The pledge lands amid a wave of grassroots resistance. Data Center Watch tracking cited by TechcityAuthority found that community opponents blocked or delayed at least 75 data center projects worth roughly $130 billion in just the first quarter of 2026, while Garman himself has acknowledged that more than 100 local data center moratoriums are under consideration nationwide. Pennsylvania residents have raised similar secrecy concerns over multi-site AWS plans, as Hoodline reported in its coverage of Indiana County commissioners, and Philadelphia activists have separately rallied at City Hall to demand an outright moratorium.
Scrutiny Beyond Amazon
Amazon is not alone in changing course. Microsoft eliminated nondisclosure agreements with local governments for future data center projects earlier in 2026, according to a report from the Delaware Source. State leaders in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Delaware have also issued executive orders or legislative directives in 2026 restricting or prohibiting NDAs in municipal data center negotiations, per Quartz.
The secrecy practice had become remarkably common. A 2026 study by University of Mary Washington researchers found that in 25 of 31 Virginia localities with existing or proposed data center projects, local government officials had signed nondisclosure agreements with tech developers, as reported by Tom's Hardware. Federal lawmakers are now watching too: on September 29, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee Democrats opened an inquiry into Amazon, Google, Meta, and Oracle over NDAs that prevented local officials from disclosing data center project details to residents.
Tax Breaks Still Dwarf the New Fund
Policy critics have pointed out that Amazon's community investment pledge doesn't address the company's much larger tax abatement practices. Amazon claimed $561 million in sales and use tax exemptions in 2025 for its Indiana data centers alone — more than 2.8 times the $200 million in annual nationwide spending pledged under Built Together — while making no promise to stop requesting local tax breaks, according to an analysis from FourWeekMBA. Tax policy experts cited in that analysis emphasized that the scale of Amazon's tax relief far exceeds its new financial commitments to communities.
Public policy advocates have also flagged a gap in the new pledge: it remains unclear whether Amazon's no-NDA policy extends to third-party developers or real estate contractors who often negotiate land deals under code names on the company's behalf, according to Superpower Daily. That question has particular resonance in places like San Antonio, where Hoodline previously reported on resident pushback against an Amazon data center that operated under a code name before its ties to the company became public.
