OpenAI, Oracle and Denver–Vantage Data Centers, a provider of large-scale data center campuses, has named a construction team for the first phase of a $15 billion data center campus it plans to build west of Interstate 43 in Port Washington, Wis., outside of Milwaukee. The development is expected to outgrow the $3.3 billion, 315-acre data center campus Microsoft is building in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin.
The construction team for the $8 billion first phase of the project, called Lighthouse, includes Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., The Weitz Co., a joint venture of Turner Construction and McCarthy Building Cos. and Michels.
The first phase of the complex will include four data center buildings located on 672 acres of the 1,900-acre site. The buildings will use a total of 1.3 gigawatts of power, Vantage says. The planned infrastructure includes parking lots with up to 200 stalls, generators, transformers, utility buildings and dry coolers.
The new campus is part of the previously announced partnership between OpenAI and Oracle to provide up to 4.5 gigawatts of additional Stargate capacity. It’s the Midwest site recently announced as part of OpenAI’s Stargate expansion.
Vantage says the four data centers will provide nearly one gigawatt of AI capacity.
“Now we are mobilizing [for construction],” says Vantage spokesman Mark Freeman, adding that construction is slated for completion in 2028.
Vantage is committed to ensuring that contractors use local union workers to the maximum extent possible. The company estimates that the privately funded project will require a peak workforce of more than 4,000 skilled construction workers over three years.
“Wisconsin has one of the most skilled and highly trained workforces in the country, and deals like this prove it,” said Dan Bukiewicz, president of the Milwaukee Building and Construction Trades Council. “Every job created here means another opportunity for our local tradespeople to showcase their expertise and build careers at home.”
The campus had faced opposition from residents, who cited concerns about water use, habitat loss and light pollution. But Mike Didier, chairman of the Port Washington Town Board, supports the project.
“If they don’t build it here, they’ll build it somewhere else and probably nearby,” he says.
Vantage says the campus will use a closed-loop liquid cooling system that minimizes water use and reduces energy consumption. It also says it will invest in local water restoration projects to achieve water positivity, returning more water to fresh water sources than the campus consumes.
He says the campus will include the development of solar, wind and battery storage. About 70% of the energy capacity will be allocated to the Lighthouse campus, while 30% will be made available to Wisconsin consumers. The rest of the energy consumed by the campus will be combined with annual renewable energy purchases, the company says.
Although Vantage will develop 500 of the 672 acres for the four data centers, it intends to preserve the remaining land as natural space with more than 2,000 native trees and other landscapes. The company intends to obtain LEED certification for the campus.
