Ankara: President Donald Trump said Thursday that artificial intelligence companies should bear the cost of building the power infrastructure needed for new data centers. He urged local communities to support the projects as key to maintaining US technological leadership.

According to Anadolu Agency, speaking at the Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Washington, Trump said more than 220 utilities, tech companies, and state governments have signed a protection pledge since it was introduced earlier this year, with electricity rates for 80% of the power distributed in the US now covered by the plan.

"These companies are spending tremendous amounts of money on the local communities," said Trump. He claimed foreign countries were trying to slow the US expansion of artificial intelligence infrastructure through "propaganda" and public relations campaigns aimed at discouraging local support for data centers.

"If we don't do this, we're going to be left behind," said Trump. "You have to convince your communities how great these things are. You can't fight it. You have to go with it." Trump described communities welcoming data centers as "smart communities," saying the facilities bring "tremendous numbers of jobs" with 'very little actual disruption.'