Data Centers: Going information Dark
November 21, 2025
Data Center NDAs: Keeping Citizens in the Dark Until the Ink is Dry
Transparency is a dirty word in Silicon Valley. And now, increasingly, across the country. NBC News discusses “How NDAs Keep AI Data Center Details Hidden from Americans.” Reporter Natalie Kainz tells us about Dr. Timothy Grosser of Mason County, Kentucky, who turned down a generous but mysterious offer to buy his 250-acre farm. Those who brought him the proposal refused to tell him who it came from or what the land would be used for. They asked him to sign a non-disclosure agreement before revealing such details. The farmer, who has no intention of selling his land to anyone for any price, adamantly refused. Later, he learned a still-unnamed company is scouting the area for a huge data center. Kainz writes:
“Grosser experienced firsthand what has become a common but controversial aspect of the multibillion-dollar data center boom, fueled by artificial intelligence services. Major tech companies launching the huge projects across the country are asking land sellers and public officials to sign NDAs to limit discussions about details of the projects in exchange for morsels of information and the potential of economic lifelines for their communities. It often leaves neighbors searching for answers about the futures of their communities. … Those in the data center industry argue the NDAs serve a particular purpose: ensuring that their competitors aren’t able to access information about their strategies and planned projects before they’re announced. And NDAs are common in many types of economic development deals aside from data centers. But as the facilities have spread into suburbs and farmland, they’ve drawn pushback from dozens of communities concerned by how they could upend daily life.”
Such concerns include inflated electricity prices, water shortages, and air pollution. We would add the dangerous strain on power grids and substantial environmental damage. Residents are also less than thrilled about sights and sounds that would spoil their areas’ natural beauty.
Companies say the NDAs are required to protect trade secrets and stay ahead of the competition. Residents are alarmed to be kept in the dark, sometimes until construction is nearly under way. And local officials are caught between a rock and a hard place– They want the economic boost offered by data centers but are uneasy signing away their duty to inform their constituents. Even in the face of freedom of information requests, which is a point stipulated in at least one contract NBC was privy to. But hey, we cannot let the rights of citizens get in the way of progress, can we?
Cynthia Murrell, November 21, 2025
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