Amazon says it no longer uses NDAs with agencies on data centers

Amazon said it no longer uses nondisclosure agreements with the government agencies it works with on data center projects. Wired called such agreements a key point of contention over the buildings. Amazon also committed more than $1 billion over the next five years to communities that host its data centers.

AWS CEO Matt Garman made both statements in a post on Amazon’s site published Oct. 2, 2026.

Officials who sign NDAs often cannot name the tenant

Wired reported Oct. 2 that the agreements are contentious because officials who sign them often cannot share a project’s energy and water use or even the companies involved. Amazon told The Wall Street Journal it no longer used NDAs. Google, Meta and Oracle did not return the Journal’s request for comment, per Wired.

Wired said Amazon did not answer whether the commitment covers contractors, and noted that a Wharton County, Texas, official signed an NDA with the contractor VisionFirst Advisors rather than Amazon, per the Houston Chronicle.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey and Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer have restricted data center NDAs in executive orders, Wired reported. Earlier this week Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat and sponsor of a recent bipartisan House bill on the agreements, sent letters to Amazon, Google, Meta and Oracle demanding information on their use.

The $1 billion is for host communities

Wired and Ars Technica reported the details Oct. 2. Wired said it would fund free community college programs, workforce training and energy efficiency upgrades. Ars said communities would set priorities across education, job training, energy affordability and water. The post says Amazon contributed more than $1 billion to such communities over the past three years.

Amazon argues against moratoriums

The post says over 100 data center moratoriums are under consideration and that, if enacted, “the U.S. could be writing its own losing ticket to this race.” It also cites “widespread reports of various countries intentionally seeding misinformation.” Wired reported that experts call that overblown and see little evidence that Chinese misinformation is driving the backlash.

Stand.Earth calls it damage control

Stand.Earth, an environmental nonprofit, told Ars Technica the end of NDAs would likely improve transparency but called the rest “a flailing attempt at damage control” and “corporate propaganda.” It said the commitments omit the gas power plant Amazon is funding in Pecos, Texas, which it said would produce 33 million tons of air pollution yearly. It called $1 billion over five years “a drop in the bucket” against the $220 billion Amazon is investing in data centers in 2026 alone. The Ars report carried no Amazon reply.

Analysis

The dispute has moved to who gets information and who decides local approvals, with more than 100 moratoriums under consideration by Amazon’s count. Data centers are the physical base for model training and serving, and the labs depend on cloud providers like Amazon for capacity. We think that ties the outcome of these local decisions to how much capacity the labs can count on.