Governor Tony Evers welcomed President Joe Biden back to Wisconsin and joined Microsoft officials to celebrate Microsoft’s investment of $3.3 billion between now and the end of 2026 to expand its national cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure capacity through the development of a state-of-the-art data center campus in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin. The project is expected to bring 2,000 union construction jobs to the area by the end of this year, as well as provide long-term employment opportunities over the next several years. Microsoft is also announcing the establishment of a lo ..read more

Commercial and industrial HVAC manufacturer Daikin Applied will invest $121 million to build a new energy-efficient manufacturing facility in Tijuana, Mexico. In partnership with its subsidiary Alliance Air Products — a San Diego-based custom air-handling equipment designer and manufacturer — Daikin Applied is expanding its manufacturing capabilities to support sustainable data center growth across North America. The 460,000-square-foot facility will create more than 1,150 new jobs in the northwest region of Mexico. Construction of the facility is expected to be complete by spring 2025 with pr ..read more

Montgomery, Alabama will be the site of a new Meta AI-optimized data center, which increase the company’s existing investment in the state — a data center campus currently operates in Huntsville. The Montgomery data center, reflecting Meta’s latest design, will be 715,000 square feet and it will be the company’s 24th data hub and the 20th in the United States. Expected to go online at the end of 2026, the facility will be LEED Gold certified by the U.S. Green Building Council. It will be supported by 100% renewable energy and reach net zero emissions. Aerial view of planned Meta data center in ..read more

Amazon Web Services (AWS) plans to invest $11 billion to build a data center campus in north central Indiana and create at least 1,000 new jobs. Announced today, the planned investment marks the largest capital investment announcement in Indiana’s history. AWS’s new data centers will contain computer servers, data storage drives, networking equipment, and other forms of technology infrastructure used to power cloud computing capabilities, and generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. Indiana is well-suited for data processing due to its business-friendly environment, abundance of i ..read more

A$600 million joint venture between Equinix, Inc. and PGIM Real Estate will bring the first xScale data center to the U.S. Located in the Silicon Valley region of California, the two-story facility — dubbed SV12x — is expected to provide more than 28 megawatts (MW) of power capacity at full build out. SV12x is located at Equinix’s Great Oaks data center campus in San Jose, CA alongside four existing Equinix International Business ExchangeTM (IBX®) data centers. The first phase of the facility is scheduled to be completed in Q2 2024. Equinix SV12x International Business Exchange™ (IBX®) in San ..read more

By Kari Williams From the March/April 2024 Issue   Incentive programs helped draw nearly $5 billion in private investments to the state of Illinois in 2023, according to Intersect Illinois. “From the makers of Pop Tarts to a leading vehicle battery maker, companies are choosing to be in Illinois, and our collaborative group of business and civic leaders are building on this momentum,” said Intersect Illinois Chairman John Atkinson. “Illinois offers competitive incentives and abundant support, along with the assets companies need to thrive, including leading infrastructure, unmatched ..read more

With a $1 billion data center investment announced on March 20, Google is expanding its presence in the U.S. Midwest, in Kansas City, Missouri. As part of the announcement, the tech giant shared that it will expand a skilled trade career development program to the region and contribute to North Kansas City School District’s alternative education STEAM program. Google is also working with Evergy to power the site and Ranger Power and D. E. Shaw Renewable Investments (DESRI) to bring 400 megawatts of new carbon-free energy to the grid as part of the company’s goal of running on 24/7 carbon-free ..read more

By Kari Williams From the January/February 2024 Issue   Data centers continued to grow in 2023, despite fears of a “complete halt” in expansion due to the economy, according to the “2023 Global Data Center Market Comparison” report from Cushman & Wakefield. In North America, Northern Virginia and Portland, OR tied at No. 1, followed by a three-way tie at No. 3 between Atlanta, Chicago, and the San Francisco Bay Area, the report found. “There has been growing interest in secondary markets such as Portland, Phoenix, Columbus, [and] Canadian markets among many others as operators se ..read more

By BF Editors From the January/February 2024 Issue   In January, Business Facilities announced its annual Deal of the Year awards, and on the following pages are the stories of these top economic development deals of 2023. Four projects were selected by our panel of judges and Business Facilities editors who reviewed dozens of entries to narrow the winners down to Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze selections. Investments by Toyota, Tesla, Scout Motors, and Amazon Web Services (AWS), respectively, are the projects recognized for the top spots. These four projects are taking place in ..read more

Amazon Web Services (AWS) will invest $10 billion to establish data center complexes in two Mississippi industrial parks — making it the largest capital investment in state history, according to the Mississippi Development Authority. “MDA is proud to have been instrumental in the successful culmination of this transformative, $10 billion project,” said MDA Executive Director Bill Cork. “This monumental win underscores Mississippi’s attractiveness for major investments and signifies a boost to our economic landscape. The high-quality, good-paying employment opportunities AWS is bringing to Madi ..read more