Microsoft’s AI ambitions fuel $3.3 billion bet on Wisconsin data center

The Mount Pleasant site was initially earmarked for a manufacturing plant operated by electronics giant Foxconn. However, a planned $10 billion investment, announced in 2017 and championed by former President Donald Trump, never fully materialized. Foxconn did open a data center on the site in 2021, but plans to manufacture LCD screens there were shelved, and now Microsoft is building on the land instead.

Unlocking Advanced AI Applications

Microsoft’s new investments will greatly improve AI applications, moving from systems that simply find and show existing information to ones that can create new content, said Andrés Diana, chief innovation officer for Accrete AI. He said that the additional capacity will enable more sophisticated cloud services, machine learning models, and real-time AI analytics.

“Specific technologies that could be developed include more advanced generative AI applications that could transform content creation, programming, design, and other creative fields,” he added. “Perhaps the most exciting area additional capacity will unlock is the unfettered use and insights that can stem from AI agents running 24/7 conducting research, synthesizing data, and producing predictive insights, recommendations, and work-product at a rate and quality that we cannot fathom today.”