Amazon staff support Seattle council vote on AI data centre limits

A trio of Amazon engineers took to the floor at Seattle City Council hearings on Wednesday to voice their support for tighter regulation of large-scale AI data centres — even as their own employer continues to pour billions into AI infrastructure while shedding tens of thousands of jobs.

Engineers speak out on Big Tech's AI spending

Patrick Schloesser, a software engineer at Amazon Web Services, was among those who addressed council members, drawing a sharp contrast between his company's capital commitments and its recent workforce reductions.

"It's been reported that this year, Amazon is spending $200 billion dollars on capital, with most of it going to data centers and AI," Schloesser said at the hearing.

"Microsoft is spending $190 billion. Meanwhile, the leaders at my company have laid off 30,000 corporate employees in the last eight months. What that tells me is that Big Tech is desperate to build as much compute capacity as it can, as fast as it can."

Seattle approves moratorium on new data centres

The council voted to approve a one-year moratorium on new large-scale AI data centres, giving the city time to develop a proper regulatory framework.

The move followed approaches from four developers to a local utility provider, each pitching the construction of large-scale facilities in Seattle.

Two of the four have since pulled their proposals following public opposition, according to the Seattle Times.

Seattle is far from alone. The city now joins a lengthening list of municipalities across the United States seeking to curb the rapid expansion of AI data centres.

The National Conference of State Legislatures has noted that 14 states are currently considering legislation that would pause or ban new facilities.

A report from Data Center Watch revealed that in 2025, local opposition and litigation led to at least $156 billion worth of data centre projects being blocked or delayed.

Tech giants show no sign of slowing

Despite the resistance, the industry's biggest players are pressing ahead at full throttle. Amazon, Microsoft, Google parent Alphabet, and Meta have collectively committed around $700 billion in capital expenditure this year, the bulk of which is earmarked for AI infrastructure — all whilst simultaneously seeking ways to reduce costs, including through large-scale redundancies.

The 30,000 corporate job losses at Amazon that Schloesser referenced have all occurred since October, as part of chief executive Andy Jassy's drive to strip back layers of management and reduce bureaucracy in a bid to run the company like what he describes as the "world's largest startup."

Amazon confirmed in February that it plans to spend $200 billion on capital expenditure this year, with the majority directed towards AI infrastructure — a forecast it reaffirmed in April.

Engineers call for renewable energy and transparency

Schloesser, who has been with Amazon for nearly six years, urged Seattle officials to hold data centre developers to higher standards, pushing for commitments to renewable energy and greater transparency in how new projects are announced.

"You've got to provide good jobs building these things, and you've got to pay a new tax that funds city jobs every time you conduct a large layoff," Schloesser said.

Schloesser was joined at the hearings by fellow Amazon employees Liesl Wigand and Darius Irani. All three are members of Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, a group of current and former Amazon workers that has consistently pressed the company on its environmental stance, its treatment of staff, and a range of other concerns.

In November, the group wrote to Amazon executives urging the establishment of a "more responsible rollout of AI" and calling on the company to "get real about the costs of AI and the guardrails we need."

Wigand, who has spent more than 12 years at Amazon, described the company's approach to the technology as an "all-costs-justified AI build out."

"The biggest issue is a belief that AI should be how we solve everything, while ignoring the resources that it costs," Wigand said.

"This culture is omnipresent across tech. That's why local governments, in collaboration with community stakeholders, should be setting the terms for data center buildout."

The moratorium was passed unanimously by the council's Land Use and Sustainability Committee on Wednesday.