Amazon pledges $1 billion for data center towns as local opposition grows
Amazon is putting a billion dollars where its data centers are. The company said Friday it will spend more than $1 billion over five years in the US communities that host its data centers, under a new program called “Built Together” — its most direct attempt yet to buy goodwill in towns that increasingly don’t want the giant buildings. The announcement came in a 3,000-word blog post from Matt Garman, the CEO of Amazon Web Services. And it reads less like philanthropy and more like a warning. ...