Amazon Web Services Chief Executive Officer Matt Garman has said the company has stopped using nondisclosure agreements with government agencies involved in its data centre projects.

The announcement comes as Amazon faces growing opposition from communities and activists concerned about the environmental impact, transparency and wider effects of large data centres being built across the United States.

Garman said the company had stopped using NDAs as part of an effort to address concerns surrounding transparency.

His comments formed part of a broader argument defending data centres and their potential benefits to local communities. The issue has become increasingly controversial, with environmental activists accusing technology companies and government authorities of failing to provide sufficient information about proposed projects.

Garman also challenged concerns about the amount of water and electricity consumed by data centres, as well as claims about pollution and limited community benefits.

He argued that direct water consumption by data centres represents a relatively small proportion of industrial water use in the United States.

He also maintained that electricity prices in some areas with large numbers of data centres had not increased and suggested that higher rates in other areas were largely linked to ageing electricity infrastructure.

Environmental concerns remain a major issue. Garman argued that data centre generators rarely operate at their maximum permitted capacity, despite permits allowing some facilities to produce significant levels of emissions.

Critics, however, have questioned whether focusing on actual generator usage fully captures the environmental impact of data centres, particularly when electricity generation, chip manufacturing and other parts of the technology supply chain are considered.

Amazon has also pointed to its financial contributions to communities, saying it has invested more than $1 billion in communities across the United States where it has a significant data centre presence over the past three years.

However, growing public distrust of major technology companies could make it difficult for such assurances to ease opposition.

The debate reflects a wider crisis of confidence surrounding artificial intelligence and the infrastructure required to support its rapid expansion.

Source: TechCrunch