Dive Brief:
- Microsoft is upping the ante on its planned data center campus on the former Foxconn site in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, with a $3.3 billion investment, the company said earlier this month.
- Alongside the previously announced complex, Microsoft will create what it calls the country’s first manufacturing-focused artificial intelligence co-innovation lab, and an AI skilling initiative to equip more than 100,000 of the state’s residents with essential AI skills.
- The investment is a significant expansion from its prior commitment of $1 billion for the data center campus, which it contracted out to Chicago-based Walsh Construction. As of Feb. 27, Walsh was in the process of erecting steel for buildings and removing soil, according to the project page.
Dive Insight:
With the establishment of this work, Microsoft expects that the project will supply an influx of 2,300 union construction jobs to the Mount Pleasant area by 2025, per the release. The project will partially fill a 2,500-acre plot of land set aside for a $10 billion U.S. hub for Taiwanese manufacturing giant Foxconn.
Pandemic impacts and withdrawals of promised state subsidies caused Foxconn to scale back plans in October 2020 on its proposed $10 billion plant for the site.
Because of the power constraints that large data centers can put on local grids, Microsoft has also partnered with Bloomington, Minnesota-based National Grid Renewables to build a 250-megawatt solar project in Wisconsin that will begin operating in 2027. With the additional source, Microsoft said it will provide 4,000 megawatts of power to the grid, the equivalent of juicing 3 million homes.
The Wall Street Journal reported that massive projects, like data centers, will play a part in the disruption of normal power distribution, and major providers are bracing for load growth as a result.
In addition, Microsoft claims that the new data center will use recycled water through a closed-loop cooling system that does not require any additional water after startup, per the release. The facilities are notorious for their water consumption, and communities in Arizona and South Carolina have pushed back against data center projects, NBC News reported in 2021.
Despite those concerns, these projects are catching the eye of builders as they give the construction industry a much-needed shot in the arm. The Dodge Momentum Index, a benchmark that measures nonresidential construction planning, rose 6.1% in April on the back of a surge in data center proposals that helped reverse two consecutive months of dips, according to Dodge Construction Network.
Public contractors have also announced their intentions to pursue projects in this vertical — both Coral Gables, Florida-based MasTec and Dallas-based Jacobs Solutions plan to target the sector for future projects.
