Microsoft is in the final phase of building its Fairwater AI data center in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, as part of an initial $3.3 billion investment pledge. The company is committing an additional $4 billion over the next three years to build a second, similarly-sized data center. This brings the total investment in the state to over $7 billion.
The first data center is on track to be completed and go online in early 2026. The initial hiring for full-time employees to support the first facility has already begun, Microsoft revealed.
The Mount Pleasant facility is being built to train the next decade of artificial intelligence. It will house hundreds of thousands of NVIDIA GPUs in seamless clusters, the fiber connecting these GPUs is apparently enough to wrap around the planet four times. The facility will deliver ten times the performance of today’s fastest computers. The Redmond giant said that the models it trains in Wisconsin will go on to make new discoveries in various fields including medicine and science.
Microsoft has built the factory around sustainable practices, with over 90% of it relying on a closed-loop liquid cooling system. The remaining portion uses outside air, only switching to water on the hottest days. The annual water usage is compared to that of a typical restaurant or an 18-hole golf course’s weekly consumption.
The Windows maker will pre-pay for energy and infrastructure to ensure prices are more stable for its neighbors. The company will also match every kilowatt hour from a fossil fuel source with carbon-free energy, including a new 250 MW solar project.
At its peak, the development was hiring over 3,000 construction workers. The first data center will see 500 full-time employees hired to run it and when the second site is complete, a further 300 will be employed, bringing the total to 800 hires.
To ensure people are ready to fill these roles, Microsoft has partnered with Gateway Technical College to launch Wisconsin's first Datacenter Academy, with a goal of training over 1,000 students. A new manufacturing-focused AI Co-Innovation Lab has also opened at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, helping 23 companies turn AI ideas into solutions.
Finally, Microsoft has decided to expand broadband access to more than 9,300 rural residents in Wisconsin and delivered next-gen service to 1,200 homes and businesses in Sturtevant. This ensures residents have faster, more reliable internet in the places they live, work, and learn.
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