Microsoft Corp. plans to spend $1 billion building three data centers in central Ohio and says it may continue to build more facilities at the sites in the future.
Regional economic development organization One Columbus announced Microsoft’s plan on October 28. The tech giant has identified sites in New Albany, Hebron and Heath, all east of Columbus in Licking County, to build data center campuses as part of its cloud computing infrastructure, which already includes 300 data centers and 280,000 km of fiber worldwide.
“The Columbus region’s skilled workforce, strong infrastructure and strategic location make it ideal for this project,” said Bowen Wallace, corporate vice president of data centers for Microsoft’s Americas region, in a statement
Microsoft plans to develop each campus in phases that may include additional facilities in the future, but the timelines for each will depend on its own design, planning and permitting process. In New Albany, local officials this month approved a deal allowing the company to move forward with its project there and offer a 15-year property tax abatement for the 197-acre site.
Initial plans for New Albany call for a 245,000-square-foot data center at an estimated cost of $420 million, records show. Construction will begin in April 2026 and end in December 2027.
Microsoft has not publicly identified any contractors and did not immediately respond to inquiries about the project’s procurement.
The company joins other tech giants including Meta, Amazon Web Services, Google and QTS building data centers in New Albany. Intel is also building a couple of semiconductor manufacturing plants there. Mayor Sloan Spalding said in a statement that the Microsoft project “not only reinforces New Albany’s reputation as a center for innovation and technology, but also represents an important step in our continued efforts to attract world-class companies world to our community.”
Several water, sewage and road projects are underway in the city to accommodate the growing facilities.
The Hebron and Heath locations are still pending local approval, although the mayors of both communities spoke positively of the projects in written statements.
But the projects are within the area covered by the AEP Ohio power company, which has filed a request with the Ohio Public Utilities Commission to add rates to the new data centers to ensure it can cover the cost of the necessary infrastructure to serve them.
Earlier this month, a group of data center owners presented a proposed deal that would force large data center owners to pay for at least 75% of the energy they say they need each month, even though end up consuming less energy. Microsoft has supported this proposal. However, AEP submitted its own proposal with the support of state staff and others that would require a minimum payment of 85%. A hearing on the application is set for November 4.
Virginia Data Center Power Project
In Virginia, the owner of a completely independent data center project has proposed powering them on-site with natural gas supplied by the 303-mile Mountain Valley pipeline, which went into service earlier this year after court pushes and last year’s legislatures.
Balico LLC has applied to Pittsylvania County to use 2,233 acres of land for agriculture for a campus of 84 data centers plus power generation and a wastewater treatment facility in site, according to records.
Reports say the power plant could have up to 3,500 MW of generating capacity, making it the largest such facility in the state. power magazine reports. Balico was also behind plans to build the 1.6 GW Chickahominy Power Plant in Charles City County, Va., a project that was abandoned in 2022 amid opposition from several groups.
Balico’s application materials show that each data center building would be 394,000 square feet and 40 feet tall.
Irfan Ali, who is listed as Balico’s managing member in state business records, has met with local residents to pitch his idea and hear concerns about the project. Local news website Cardinal News reported that more than 100 people attended a meeting with Ali and spent more than two and a half hours questioning him and sharing opposition to the plan.
The county planning commission is scheduled to hear the proposal at its November 7 meeting.
