Microsoft’s Brad Smith Sees Trump Boost to Data Centers, AI
In an interview, Microsoft's president said he is optimistic the company can benefit from the Trump administration’s tech policies, including easier permitting for data centers and more energy production to power them.
As Republicans sweeping to power in Washington call for bringing the great tech powers to heel, one of those big companies has mostly escaped their wrath: Microsoft. Brad Smith, the company’s president and main liaison to Washington, is trying to keep it that way.
In the months before Donald Trump’s reelection, Microsoft staffers were in steady contact with his campaign and the Republican National Committee, providing tech support for the RNC’s convention and cybersecurity assistance when Iranian hackers targeted Trump’s campaign in August, Smith said in an interview. Now Microsoft is “optimistic about the number of opportunities” that will be available after Trump takes office in January, Smith said.
Those include a lighter touch on regulations regarding the sales of artificial intelligence tools and the possibility of using AI to make government agencies run more efficiently.