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Microsoft has completed and brought its first data-center facility online in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, within the former Foxconn development area. The facility became operational on June 23, 2026. Microsoft’s original $3.3 billion commitment, announced in 2024, covered a broader cloud-computing, artificial-intelligence, workforce and community package through the end of 2026—not just one building. A second facility remains under construction and is targeted for completion in 2028.
The short answer
Microsoft followed through on the first phase of its Wisconsin promise, but describing the entire project as complete would be inaccurate.
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- Location: Mount Pleasant, Racine County, inside Tax Incremental District No. 5, the former Foxconn-centered development district.
- Original commitment: $3.3 billion through the end of 2026.
- Current status: The first facility is operational as of June 23, 2026.
- Next phase: A second adjacent facility is under construction and scheduled for completion in 2028.
- Current workforce: Microsoft reports nearly 550 full-time employees at the first facility.
- Construction workforce: Nearly 10,000 workers contributed to the first facility, according to Microsoft.
The most accurate description is that Microsoft has opened the first phase of a larger Mount Pleasant AI data-center campus.
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What Microsoft originally promised
On May 8, 2024, Microsoft announced that it would invest $3.3 billion through the end of 2026 to develop cloud-computing and AI infrastructure in Mount Pleasant. The package also included workforce development, an AI co-innovation lab, community initiatives and renewable-energy commitments. The company projected approximately 2,300 union construction jobs for the initial buildout.
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That figure should not be read as the price of a single completed building. It was a broader investment commitment centered on a data-center campus and related programs. Microsoft’s original announcement is available from Microsoft.
Where the project is—and what “former Foxconn site” means
The project is in Mount Pleasant’s 3,921-acre Tax Incremental District No. 5, created around the large technology campus once planned by Foxconn.
Microsoft is developing new data-center facilities within that former Foxconn development area. The available municipal documents do not establish that Microsoft simply converted or occupied Foxconn’s existing factory. Instead, a 2023 fact sheet describes a transaction involving approximately 315 acres and the release of Foxconn’s rights to that land.
That distinction matters. “At the former Foxconn site” is geographically reasonable; “inside the former Foxconn factory” suggests a building reuse that the cited documents do not prove.
What Fairwater is designed to do
Microsoft has branded the Mount Pleasant facility Fairwater and describes it as an AI-focused data center for large-scale model training and inference. The company says the system uses hundreds of thousands of NVIDIA GPUs connected through a high-speed networking fabric, with enough fiber, by Microsoft’s description, to circle Earth several times.
Microsoft has also described Fairwater as an AI “superfactory” that can connect with other Fairwater facilities. It has claimed performance approximately ten times that of the fastest supercomputer at the time of its announcement. Those are Microsoft’s claims, not an independently verified ranking presented in the available sources. See Microsoft’s technical description of Fairwater and its facility overview.
In practical terms, the site is intended to provide the computing capacity required for demanding cloud and AI workloads. The available announcements do not establish that it is dedicated exclusively to one customer, one AI system or one product.
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| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| 2017 | Mount Pleasant’s Foxconn-related technology district was created. |
| March 2023 | Municipal documents described Microsoft’s proposed 315-acre transaction and data-center plans. |
| May 8, 2024 | Microsoft announced the $3.3 billion Wisconsin investment package. |
| September 18, 2025 | Microsoft publicly described Fairwater’s AI infrastructure and announced additional Wisconsin investment. |
| April 2026 | Equipment startup activities began at the first facility, according to Microsoft. |
| June 23, 2026 | Microsoft said construction of the first facility was complete and the facility was operational. |
| 2028 | Microsoft’s stated target for completing the second facility. |
How much is Microsoft investing?
Several investment figures now circulate, and they do not all describe the same thing:
| Figure | Meaning |
|---|---|
| $3.3 billion | The original Mount Pleasant-centered commitment announced in 2024, scheduled through the end of 2026. |
| More than $7 billion | Microsoft’s stated total Wisconsin investment after a later additional $4 billion announcement. |
| $4.7 billion | Microsoft’s estimate of local hyperscale construction spending in Wisconsin from 2024 through 2028. |
These figures should not be added together automatically. They cover different time periods and scopes, and the available announcements do not establish that they are mutually exclusive accounting categories. The later expansion was reported by the Wisconsin governor’s office; Microsoft provided the $4.7 billion local construction estimate in its June 2026 completion announcement.
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Jobs: a construction boom, followed by a smaller permanent workforce
The job numbers describe different stages of the project:
- 2,300 union construction jobs: Microsoft’s original projection for the initial buildout.
- Nearly 10,000 construction workers: Microsoft’s later figure for everyone who contributed to the first facility. This is not 10,000 permanent jobs.
- Nearly 550 full-time employees: Microsoft’s reported on-site workforce at the first operational facility as of June 23, 2026.
- About 800 full-time employees: Microsoft’s projection after the second facility becomes operational.
This is an important difference from Foxconn’s original manufacturing-era promises. Data centers can require a very large construction workforce while operating with a substantially smaller permanent staff because many systems are automated and centrally managed.
Microsoft also announced a commitment to train more than 1,000 students over five years through Gateway Technical College’s Data Center Academy and to help build AI skills for more than 100,000 people statewide. Those commitments are separate from the number of employees working inside the facility.
How Microsoft’s project differs from Foxconn
| Foxconn plan | Microsoft project | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary use | Electronics manufacturing | Cloud computing and AI infrastructure |
| Employment pattern | Promised a large manufacturing workforce | Large temporary construction workforce plus a smaller permanent operating workforce |
| Physical activity | Factory and industrial campus | Highly automated data-center facilities |
| Main public questions | Incentives, job targets and reduced scope | Power demand, water, tax treatment, infrastructure and jobs |
| Site relationship | Originated the Mount Pleasant technology district | Developing new facilities inside that district |
Microsoft should not automatically be treated as responsible for Foxconn’s earlier public costs or obligations. Mount Pleasant’s Microsoft fact sheet says the implementation agreement did not lessen Foxconn’s obligations and that the land transaction involved Foxconn releasing rights to the 315-acre parcel.
Electricity, renewable energy and water
Electricity
AI data centers require substantial electricity and grid infrastructure. Microsoft’s 2024 announcement linked the project to a 250-megawatt solar project with National Grid Renewables and described a contribution to a community fund.
That does not mean the facility is physically powered by dedicated solar energy at every moment. The announcement describes additional generation entering the local grid, not a one-to-one supply arrangement in which the data center operates solely from that project.
Water
Microsoft said the facility uses recycled water and a closed-loop cooling system that does not require additional water after startup, while a smaller portion of the facility may use water during particularly warm conditions.
“No water use” would therefore be too broad. Microsoft’s description is a company claim, and the available material does not provide independently audited operating data showing exact consumption under normal and hot-weather conditions.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Tax increment financing and public infrastructure
Tax Incremental District No. 5 was created to assemble land and finance infrastructure for large-scale development. The district includes Foxconn, Microsoft and other industrial projects.
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According to Mount Pleasant’s 2023 Microsoft fact sheet:
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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware match- The village and county would sell approximately 315 acres to Microsoft for about $50.085 million.
- Subject to the agreement’s conditions, Microsoft could recoup 42% of annual incremental property taxes on improvements, capped at $5 million per year.
- New tax increment would also be used to pay the district’s allocated infrastructure costs.
- The village and county retained a repurchase option if construction deadlines were not met.
This arrangement is not automatically the same as a direct cash subsidy or a property-tax exemption. Tax-increment financing generally uses new tax revenue generated by rising property values in a designated district to pay eligible infrastructure or development costs. An earn-back provision, public infrastructure spending, a grant and a tax exemption are different mechanisms and should be analyzed separately.
The terms come from the Mount Pleasant Microsoft fact sheet. The fact sheet alone does not answer the full eventual public cost of roads, transmission, water, sewer or other infrastructure supporting the entire campus.
What remains under construction
Mount Pleasant’s official TID materials identify the first Microsoft facility as Area 3B and another facility as Area 3A. The village lists additional future development in Area II and the North Area. A 2025 economic-development map identified Area 3B as under construction and Area II as in site preparation.
Only the first facility should be described as complete and operational. The size, timing, approvals and final status of later phases remain separate questions. Microsoft’s stated 2028 completion date for the second facility is a target, not proof that the entire broader campus will be finished by then.
What the project proves—and what it does not
The first phase demonstrates that Microsoft moved beyond an announcement and delivered an operating AI data-center facility in Mount Pleasant. It also generated a significant construction effort and a continuing local workforce.
It does not, by itself, settle whether the project will match Foxconn-era employment expectations, whether the public infrastructure costs will be justified by future tax revenue, or how much electricity and water the full campus will consume. Those questions depend on later phases, actual operating data, final staffing and the public-finance results over time.
The project also should not be judged by a single headline number. The $3.3 billion commitment, the more than $7 billion statewide figure and the $4.7 billion construction estimate describe different scopes. Likewise, 2,300 projected construction jobs, nearly 10,000 construction workers and 550 current full-time employees are not interchangeable measures of economic impact.
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