Microsoft just secured approval to build 15 massive data centers in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, transforming the infamous Foxconn site into a sprawling AI infrastructure hub. The unanimous Monday vote marks a stark contrast to the company's recent retreat from neighboring Caledonia, where residents successfully blocked similar plans. With a taxable value exceeding $13 billion and nearly 9 million square feet of building space, the expansion signals how desperate Big Tech is to find welcoming homes for power-hungry AI facilities.
Microsoft is racing ahead with one of its largest data center expansions yet, and it's doing so on ground that represents one of the biggest economic development failures in recent memory. Mount Pleasant's village board voted unanimously Monday to approve plans for 15 new data centers just northwest of Microsoft's existing Wisconsin campus, a project that carries a staggering $13 billion taxable value according to village documents reviewed by CNBC.
The site's history tells a cautionary tale about economic promises and political grandstanding. Back in 2017, Foxconn announced a $10 billion plant that President Trump championed as proof of his manufacturing revival agenda. The village bought up land, Wisconsin poured state tax dollars into infrastructure, and everyone waited for 13,000 promised jobs. By 2023, Foxconn employed just 1,000 people across the entire state, and Mount Pleasant was left holding over $250 million in debt.
Now Microsoft is stepping in where Foxconn stumbled, but the path hasn't been entirely smooth. Just months ago in September, the company abandoned rezoning attempts in the adjacent village of Caledonia after residents mounted fierce opposition. The contrast couldn't be sharper - in Mount Pleasant, six residents spoke in favor during Monday's public comment period, with only three raising concerns.
"I'm addressing this to all of the union folks that are here," Mount Pleasant village board president David DeGroot said during the meeting, pushing back against claims that construction jobs would be temporary. "When I heard that these jobs are temporary from somebody, if I was you, I would take umbrage to that, because it's my understanding that you are going to be out there on those sites for the next 10 years."
