Microsoft has paused construction work for its planned second phase of a data centre for artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing in Racine County, Wisconsin.
The company said in an email to GCR that works were “fully on track” for the $3.3bn first phase of the development, as announced in May 2024. However, work on the second segment had been paused while Microsoft evaluated how the project might be affected by “recent changes in technology”.
The company said changes in the plans and permits needed to be discussed with local and state authorities, a process that is expected to take some months.
Supplementary projects, such as an AI co-innovation lab at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee were still due to go ahead, according to Microsoft.
The plant is being built on a 130ha site, which Microsoft bought for $50m in 2023. Previously the land was earmarked for a chip factory belonging to Taiwanese tech company Foxconn, a scheme that was once lauded by the Trump administration as the “the eighth wonder of the world”.
Microsoft recently announced it was building a datacentre with cross-laminated timber in northern Virginia.
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