NEWNow you can listen to Fox News articles!
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said she believes Congress should look to break up companies like Apple amid news that the tech giant may raise its prices on phones and laptops due to a supply chain chip crisis.
“We need to break up a lot of these remote, very large companies and we need to establish consumer protections for people,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
His statements reveal one of the many ways lawmakers are grappling with the realities of the AI race as companies feel the pressure of global demand for energy efficiency and as local communities grapple with the costs of using it.
Like many other progressives, Ocasio-Cortez has advocated a more government-led response, citing a distrust of business influence.
THE GROWTH OF AI: WHEN WILL CONGRESS REGULATE IT?
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, DN.Y., arrives at the US Capitol for final votes of the week on Friday, May 15, 2026. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
“The problem we have is that these big companies think they are the government. They want to be the government. They want unchecked power,” said Ocasio-Cortez.
In recent weeks, outgoing Apple CEO Tim Cook has signaled that the company may have no choice but to pass on some of its rising costs to consumers.
“Unfortunately, price increases are inevitable,” Cook said in a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal.
“We are doing everything possible to reduce the large increase that is passed on to us, and we have been trying to protect our customers from the increase, but the situation is not consistent.”
For years, companies like Apple have dominated the market demand for a chip, the part of a computer that acts as the brain of a device. These chips, which require very complex manufacturing, allow computers to perform calculations, process data and issue commands.
AI COMES WITH BIG COSTS. ARE YOU CAUGHT IN THIS BILL?
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, DN.Y., walks down the steps of the House after a vote at the US Capitol on April 23, 2026. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc)
Now that AI companies are also adding to the demand, Apple finds itself competing against a shrinking supply of processors, driving up the company’s costs.
Regardless of his views on the relationship between government and business, Ocasio-Cortez said he believes it’s time for Congress to revisit ways to reduce the costs of the AI race that has escalated at the local level. In particular, he believes it’s time for lawmakers to address the complexities of data centers.
When asked if she believed Congress should consider something more than the Creating Useful Benefits for Manufacturing Semiconductors (CHIPS) Act, President Joe Biden’s signature technology investment bill that became law in 2022, Ocasio-Cortez said she thought so.
“The CHIPS Act was passed before we saw these big advances in AI, so the CHIPS Act was really passed before data centers were a thing, so it wasn’t created to anticipate the large amount of provision these data centers are consuming,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
IN 2026, THE NEW FRONT OF THE ENERGY WAR IS AI, AND WE MUST WIN THAT WAR, SAYS API HEAD
US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) speaks to members of the media as she casts her final votes of the week at the US Capitol Building on May 21, 2026 in Washington, DC. Ocasio-Cortez criticized the DNC’s recently released autopsy of the 2024 election period and its exclusion of any mention of Gaza. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Among other provisions, the CHIP act included $11.2 billion to modernize the nation’s power grid, created new clean energy innovation programs and included $39 billion in domestic semiconductor manufacturing incentives.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS PROGRAM
The bill did not address the energy consumption difficulties caused by data centers.
“We’re heavily funding these pieces of these AI data centers,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
