Microsoft Announces Additional $4 Billion Investment in Wisconsin
Company says first Mount Pleasant data center should be operational by early 2026.
Brad Smith, Vice Chair and President of Microsoft, speaks Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025, in Racine, Wis. Angela Major/WPR
Microsoft announced plans Thursday to invest $4 billion for the construction of its second data center in Mount Pleasant.
It’s the next phase of Microsoft’s development in the community. Last year the company launched plans for a $3.3 billion data center on land once slated for Foxconn.
Brad Smith, vice chair and president of Microsoft, said construction for the first data center is set to be complete next year. During an event Thursday, he said about 500 people will be employed in that first center.
Brad Smith, vice chair and president of Microsoft, speaks Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025, in Racine, Wis. Angela Major/WPR
Smith said the $4 billion project announced Thursday will be a second data center of similar size and scale, bringing the company’s total investment in Wisconsin to more than $7 billion.
“When we talk about the expansion, the next phase, you can pretty much think of everything as doubling,” Smith said.
“It’s an opportunity to keep growing,” he added.
While speaking to reporters after the announcement event, Smith said the first data center will be “the most powerful AI data center in the world” when it opens next year.
A company statement said the data center is designed “to help AI researchers and engineers build the world’s most advanced models, test ideas faster, and do it all more efficiently.”
Dave DeGroot, village president of Mount Pleasant, said he’s excited the company is “doubling down” on the investment to the community.
“They (Microsoft) are making investments and advancing development while supporting our community in big and small ways,” DeGroot said.
In a statement, Gov. Tony Evers said more than 3,000 construction workers have worked on the first data center so far. The second data center will likely require the same amount of construction workers, according to the statement.
“This project is creating good, family sustaining union jobs across the entire region for carpenters, plumbers, electricians and so many more,” Evers said during the event Thursday.
Smith said the second data center will open “in about 2027 or after.”
Mount Pleasant Village President David DeGroot, left, shakes hands with Vice Chair and President of Microsoft Brad Smith, right, during an event Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025, in Racine, Wis. Angela Major/WPR
Smith says the data centers will use ‘a lot of electricity’
A recent analysis by Clean Wisconsin found Microsoft’s data center in Mount Pleasant and a data center project in Port Washington would use about 3.9 gigawatts of power, or enough energy to power all of the state’s 4.3 million homes. Smith said that number could increase to around 9 gigawatts of power when both of Microsoft’s data centers are operational in Mount Pleasant.
“You can’t power all of those computers and all of that liquid cooling and all of those chillers without a lot of electricity,” Smith said.
“We will match every kilowatt hour we consume that comes from a fossil fuel source one for one with carbon-free energy we put back onto the grid,” Smith wrote in a statement.
Data obtained by WPR also shows Microsoft’s first data center in Mount Pleasant would use a peak of 234,000 gallons per day or 2.8 million gallons per year.
“This data center does not use much water,” Smith said Thursday. “It does use a substantial amount of electricity.”
A recent report from the nonprofit Alliance for the Great Lakes found data centers may withdraw as much as 150 billion gallons of water nationally over the next five years. The report said that’s the equivalent of water consumed by 4.6 million households.
Last year, Microsoft announced its data centers in Mount Pleasant will use a new closed-loop system design that will consume zero water for cooling. The system is expected to use a peak of 350,000 gallons per day on the hottest days of the year during the months of May through September.
Another data center campus could also be coming to Racine County. The Village of Caledonia Plan Commission is considering rezoning around 240 acres of farmland to allow construction of a data center campus across the street from the We Energies Oak Creek Power Plant. The commission could vote on that rezoning later this month.
Microsoft announces $4B investment in second data center in Racine County was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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“We will match every kilowatt hour we consume that comes from a fossil fuel source
one for one with carbon-free energy we put back onto the grid,” Smith wrote in a statement.
Sooo… We’re only going to do half the climate damage we could do.
50% = half-assed.
Could murderers go free if they impregnated one woman for each killing?
Regarding the anticipated use of 2.8 million gallons of water, it’s useful to provide some context. A single 1-inch rainfall event on the approximate 1,900-acres of land that Microsoft now owns in Mt. Pleasant would equal 51.6 million gallons of water. The average annual precipitation in Mt. Pleasant is about 36 inches per year, meaning the total annual volume of precipitation on their property is about 1.86 billion gallons of water. I’m not sure what their plans are for managing stormwater runoff but they could potentially supply far greater water needs than the 2.8 million gallons by harvesting and treating rainwater from the roofs of just a handful of the buildings planned for their campus.
Liking Holmes idea.
Write that into the deed or use/zoning codes.
All the water on Earth has been here for billions of years and is simply recycled. They can use rainwater, surface water, or aquifers but they are still using the same water that has been here. What we should be asking is if they recycle this water or does it become waste?
Beginning statement of “Pillar 2” of the “Ai Action Plan” released by very stable genius Donald Trump in July, (but somehow I don’t think he actually writes this stuff)
“AI is the first digital service in modern life that challenges America to build vastly greater
energy generation than we have today. American energy capacity has stagnated since the
1970s while China has rapidly built out their grid. America’s path to AI dominance depends on
changing this troubling trend”.
Weird that “changing this troubling trend” seems to be doubling down on fossil fuels and nuclear energy.
I also see that the “Action Plan” has a section entitled “Strengthen AI Compute Export Control Enforcement” dealing with protecting this technology from falling into the hands of our adversaries. But I noticed that recently the UAE invested $2B into the Trump family’s “World Liberty Financial” crypto company and in exchange
the Trump administration approved the sale of hundreds of thousands of AI chips to the Emiratis, despite concerns that the chips could be shared with China.
So there’s that.
Has Herr TRUMP taken credit for this yet? I mean, after he stiffed Wisconsin taxpayers into selling farmland to China, (or as he calls it….CHIII-NAH) have we gotten our money back? He will want you to believe that his colossal flop with FOXCONN allowed this to happen and was really his plan all along. Asking for his accomplice, Scott Walker.
We’re doubling down on fossil fuels and nuclear energy.
Meanwhile, Chinese company DeepSeek has developed a large language model thar uses significantly less energy (up to 75% less) and fewer resources than competitors. Competitors: that’s us.