Microsoft's 1st Mt. Pleasant data center fully online with 500 employees
Microsoft's first data center, the Fairview facility in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, is now fully operational with 550 employees, with plans to expand to 800 employees by 2028 when a second data center opens. This project is part of a larger $20.6 billion investment by Microsoft in the state, which is facing public opposition due to concerns about strain on local electricity, water, and infrastructure, despite significant state sales tax exemptions.
Microsoft announced that its Fairview data center in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, is now fully online, employing 550 full-time staff from Microsoft and its contractors. The company expects this number to grow to 800 employees by 2028 when a second adjacent data center becomes operational. This facility is the first of several projects in Microsoft's $20.6 billion data center investment in Wisconsin.
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith stated that the Fairwater data center campus houses the world's most powerful supercomputer, designed to power next-generation AI innovation globally and provide long-term economic opportunities locally. However, public polling from a recent Center Square Voters’ Voice Poll indicates that Wisconsin voters, and the national public, are largely unsupportive of data centers, believing their negatives outweigh the benefits due to the strain on local electricity, water, and infrastructure.
Further analysis by the Legislative Audit Bureau revealed that a wide-ranging Wisconsin sales tax exemption, from which Microsoft is expected to be the largest beneficiary, could cost the state $1.5 billion in foregone sales tax from four data center projects initially, and an additional $369 million annually after construction. This significantly exceeds the Wisconsin Department of Revenue's initial estimates for such incentives. The state anticipates $36.9 billion in data center investments from four companies, including Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle, Vantage Data Centers, Epic Hosting, and Meta, with an estimated $40 million in foregone sales tax for every $1 billion invested.