Microsoft has officially unveiled a new $4 billion investment in Fairwater, its next-generation artificial intelligence datacenter in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin — already the company’s largest and most advanced facility to date, and the most powerful AI datacenter in the world.
This week, Microsoft announced a series of purpose-built datacenters and infrastructure investments worldwide to accelerate the adoption of advanced AI workloads and cloud services.
Project Fairwater marks a major milestone in Microsoft’s growing U.S. infrastructure buildout. Spanning 315 acres and covering more than 1.2 million square feet across three massive buildings, Fairwater represents a feat of engineering that required 46.6 miles of foundation piles, 26.5 million pounds of structural steel, 120 miles of underground cable, and 72.6 miles of mechanical piping.
Unlike traditional cloud facilities that host smaller, independent applications, Fairwater is designed as a single, unified AI supercomputer. It will interconnect hundreds of thousands of NVIDIA GPUs using advanced networking to deliver computing power 10 times greater than today’s fastest supercomputer.
$7.3 Billion Commitment to Wisconsin
Microsoft first announced its Wisconsin plans in 2024 with a $3.3 billion investment to build Fairwater. On Thursday, executives revealed an additional $4 billion expansion to construct a second datacenter of similar size and scale, bringing the company’s total investment in the state to more than $7.3 billion.
“We’re in the final phases of building Fairwater in Mount Pleasant, and today we’re committing even more to ensure Wisconsin becomes a hub for advanced AI innovation,” said Brad Smith, Microsoft vice chair and president.
Jobs, Skills and Local Partnerships
Construction of the first facility has already employed more than 3,000 workers. Once operational, Fairwater will create about 500 full-time positions, a number expected to grow to 800 with the second facility.
Microsoft is also building a pipeline of local talent through Wisconsin’s first Datacenter Academy, launched in partnership with Gateway Technical College in Racine. The program will train over 1,000 students in the next five years for careers in operations, IT, and other high-demand fields.
Environmental Footprint and Energy
The datacenter will use a closed-loop liquid cooling system, limiting water consumption by continuously recirculating supply and switching to air cooling on most days. At peak, water use is projected at about 234,000 gallons per day when Fairwater is fully online, with long-term expansion pushing totals higher.
To offset environmental impacts, Microsoft will pre-pay for energy and infrastructure upgrades, while also investing in renewables. A 250-megawatt solar project in Portage County will help power the datacenter campus, part of Microsoft’s pledge to match its energy use with clean sources.
Wisconsin on the AI Map
State leaders hailed the investment as a transformative moment for Wisconsin. “Microsoft’s investment puts Wisconsin on the cutting edge of AI power, not just in the U.S. but across the globe,” said Gov. Tony Evers. “This project is creating good, family-supporting jobs, strengthening our economy, and ensuring our communities are part of the future of technology.”
Fairwater is expected to come online in early 2026, positioning Mount Pleasant — once known for its stalled Foxconn project — as home to the world’s most advanced AI datacenter.
Project Factsheet: Microsoft Fairwater AI Datacenter – Wisconsin
Project Overview
Name: Fairwater
Type: Artificial Intelligence Datacenter / AI Supercomputer
Owner/Developer: Microsoft
Location: Mount Pleasant, Racine County, Wisconsin, USA
Scale: Microsoft’s largest and most advanced AI datacenter in the world
Investment & Timeline
Initial Investment (2024): $3.3 billion
Additional Investment (2025): $4.0 billion (for second datacenter)
Total Commitment: $7.3+ billion
Construction Start: 2024
Expected Completion (Phase 1): Early 2026
Size & Engineering
Site Area: 315 acres
Facility Size: 1.2 million square feet (three buildings)
Key Materials:
46.6 miles of deep foundation piles
26.5 million pounds of structural steel
120 miles of underground medium-voltage cable
72.6 miles of mechanical piping
Technology & Capacity
Design: Single flat networking system linking all GPUs
Hardware: Hundreds of thousands of NVIDIA GPUs
Performance: 10x faster than the world’s current most powerful supercomputer
Purpose: AI training and inference at unprecedented scale
Jobs & Workforce Development
Construction Jobs (Peak): 3,000+
Permanent Jobs (First Datacenter): 500
Permanent Jobs (Two Datacenters): 800
Workforce Training:
Partnership with Gateway Technical College
Wisconsin’s first Datacenter Academy
Goal: train 1,000+ students in five years
Cooling & Sustainability
Cooling System:
90% closed-loop liquid cooling (filled once, continuously recirculated)
Remaining portion uses outside air most of the year, switching to water only on hot days
Projected Water Use:
234,000 gallons per day (Phase 1, 2026)
Up to 702,000 gallons per day at full buildout
8.4 million gallons annually
