Amazon Ends NDAs in Data Center Talks — SkimNews
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- Amazon said it will no longer use NDAs while negotiating with local governments over data centers, following a similar earlier move by Microsoft.
- The policy shift was buried inside a longer Amazon blog post making the case that data centers benefit host communities—something Sean O'Kane flagged as itself revealing about how the industry handles messaging.
- Rebecca Bellan said data center moratoriums typically last only one to two years, while buildouts themselves take two to five years due to zoning and funding delays, making her skeptical political pushback will meaningfully slow construction.
- Sean O'Kane framed the bigger issue as a tech industry communication failure, comparing today's secretive data center deals to Uber's mid-2010s negotiations with cities over tax subsidies that expanded into broader asks once conducted behind closed doors.
- Anthony Ha said industry backers appear genuinely worried, citing what he called "unhinged tweets" from Donald Trump and David Sacks as evidence.
- Sean O'Kane drew a parallel to Tesla, noting that a year after the company rebranded its mission from "sustainable abundance" to "amazing abundance," it still hasn't defined the term despite releasing a multi-page PDF laying it out.
Why it matters: If community pushback was fueled by secrecy, ending NDAs addresses a real grievance—but Rebecca Bellan noted moratoriums typically last only one to two years while data center buildouts take two to five years due to zoning and funding delays, suggesting political pressure may not actually delay construction. For local governments, the test is whether Amazon's openness reshapes deals in motion or simply arrives after the consequential ones are done.
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