Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has entered the debate over Big Tech, arguing that some of the largest companies in the sector now wield so much influence that they are beginning to behave like governments.
Speaking to Fox News this week, the New York Democrat called for sweeping action against the industry, saying the dominance of major technology firms has gone too far.
“We need to break up a lot of these companies that are far, far too big, and we need to be instituting consumer protections for people,” she told the outlet, setting the tone for a broader critique of corporate power in the US.
Her comments came as Apple raised prices on several of its best-known products, including some Mac and iPad models that increased by $200 or more. The 128-gigabyte iPad Air rose from $599 to $749, while the 256-gigabyte iPad Pro Wi-Fi climbed from $999 to $1,199. Some MacBook configurations also saw steep increases, with price tags up roughly 15 percent to 20 percent on certain models.
Apple said the increases were necessary because of soaring memory and storage chip costs tied to the artificial intelligence boom and the rapid expansion of data centers. The company said it had shielded customers from the higher component prices for as long as possible, but that the situation had become unsustainable.
Apple CEO Tim Cook recently told the Wall Street Journal that price increases were unavoidable. In a statement echoed across reporting on the move, Apple said it had “never seen a component price increase this much, this quickly.”
Ocasio-Cortez, however, argued that the explanation goes beyond Apple alone. In her view, the explosive growth of AI data centers is putting major pressure on memory supply and shifting those costs onto consumers.
“Now the price to buy laptops, computers, iPads, electronics in general will go up, because the data centers are sucking up all of our own industrial supply, and so we’re paying in a lot of ways, we are subsidizing the development of a lot of data centers,” she said.
She also broadened her criticism beyond pricing, accusing the biggest firms in tech of seeking influence and authority far beyond their proper role.
“The problem that we have is that these big companies, they think they are governments, they want to be governments, they want to have totally unchecked power,” she added.
“I believe that we need to pursue antitrust, and we also need to give some more protections for consumers.”
The congresswoman further argued that tech companies have been cutting jobs on a large scale while also contributing to higher energy costs for households, even as advances in AI intensify concerns about employment and utility bills.
Asked whether Congress should take another look at the CHIPS Act, the semiconductor-focused law passed in 2022, Ocasio-Cortez said it no longer fits the current technological landscape.
The CHIPS (Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors) Act was designed to strengthen microchip manufacturing in the United States through subsidies and tax incentives for domestic chip production, with the goals of improving supply-chain resilience, supporting jobs, and bolstering national security. Since then, however, the AI boom has dramatically increased demand for memory and storage chips, especially for data centers.
“The CHIPS Act was passed before we saw this huge development in AI, so the CHIPS Act was really passed before data centers were a thing, so it wasn’t designed to anticipate the huge amount of supply that these centers are sucking up,” she explained.
Her latest remarks are consistent with earlier efforts on the issue. Ocasio-Cortez has previously pushed for federal scrutiny of AI data centers and their impact on electricity bills, and she worked with Sen. Bernie Sanders earlier this year on a proposal to pause new AI data center construction until stronger safeguards are in place.