The Microsoft data center campus currently under construction is shown on September 18, 2025 in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin.
Audrey Richardson | Reuters
approved by local officials microsoft’s The company plans to build 15 more data centers in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, near an existing site the company is expanding.
Adding data center capacity will allow Microsoft to recognize revenue from OpenAI and other customers. Amazon, google and oracle It is competing with Microsoft to build data centers powered by Nvidia chips that can train and run generative artificial intelligence models.
Finding sites for these facilities can be difficult because power companies don’t always have the necessary energy available. And people who live near the planned data center construction site are intensifying their opposition.
Mount Pleasant homeowners and stakeholders generally welcome Microsoft’s expansion into the village.
In 2017, equipment maker Foxconn announced plans to build a $10 billion factory that would create 13,000 jobs, an initiative touted by President Donald Trump. The village bought up the land and created a place. State tax dollars were used for infrastructure development. But Foxconn didn’t exactly follow suit. By 2023, the company employed 1,000 people across the state and the village had more than $250 million in debt.
In the neighboring village of Caledonia, many residents spoke out against Microsoft’s request to rezone the data center site, and the company decided in September to stop pursuing the site.
The new Mount Pleasant job is split into two parcels just northwest of Microsoft’s current site. Microsoft purchased the larger of the two sites from the village and private owners in 2023 and 2024. The two plans call for approximately 9 million square feet of built area and three electrical substations, according to documents on file with the village.
The total taxable value of the proposed development is more than $13 billion, according to the documents.
The Mount Pleasant Village Board unanimously approved two plans Monday. During the public comment period, six people expressed support for Microsoft’s plan and three expressed concerns.
One opponent said data center jobs are not permanent. Mount Pleasant Village Board President David DeGroot opposed the approval.
“I’m going to tell this to every union member here,” DeGroot said. “When I hear from someone that these jobs are temporary, if I were you, I would be upset about that because I understand that you’re going to be working and trading in that field for the next 10 years. I don’t think anything will be temporary in 10 years.”
On Wednesday, the Village Planning Board approved a site plan that incorporates changes recommended by staff. Samuel Schultz, community development director for the city of Mount Pleasant, told the planning commission that the 15 new data centers will not require any more water than the 8.4 million gallons a year expected to come from the nearby city of Racine.
Microsoft has submitted final civil engineering plans and can then apply for building permits.
WATCH: Caterpillar is a potential winner if data centers can move power generation on-site: Bernstein’s Dillard
