Microsoft has announced it will be investing $3.3 billion into the construction of a datacenter campus in Southeast Wisconsin. The investment will go towards cloud computing and AI infrastructure, the creation of the country’s first manufacturing-focused AI co-innovation lab, and an AI skilling initiative that the company says will equip more than 100,000 of the state’s residents with essential AI skills.
The Mount Pleasant site was previously intended to become the home to an LCD manufacturing plant owned by Taiwanese tech company Foxconn that would bring new jobs and industry to the state, but those plans fell through. President Joe Biden joined Microsoft President Brad Smith to announce the project and comment on how Microsoft would succeed where Foxconn failed.
Sharp exiting from LCD panel production to focus on AI
“Six years ago, the prior administration touted a $10 billion investment by Foxconn that would purportedly create 13,000 manufacturing jobs in Racine,” the Biden administration remarked. “But after 100 homes and farms were bulldozed to make way for the manufacturing plant and over $500 million in taxpayer dollars were invested to prepare the site, no such investment materialized.”
Microsoft said that its $3.3 billion investment would take place through 2026 for the construction state-of-the-art datacenter campus that should bring 2,300 union construction jobs to the area by next year. The company says that the addition of new infrastructure should empower companies in the state and beyond to develop and deploy advanced cloud services and AI applications. Additionally, Microsoft will create a “manufacturing focused AI Co-Innovation Lab” on the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus to connect 270 Wisconsin companies to Microsoft’s AI developers by 2030.
“Wisconsin has a rich and storied legacy of innovation and ingenuity in manufacturing,” said Brad Smith, Vice Chair and President of Microsoft. “We will use the power of AI to help advance the next generation of manufacturing companies, skills and jobs in Wisconsin and across the country. This is what a big company can do to build a strong foundation for every medium, small and start-up company and non-profit everywhere.”
