Microsoft Corp. It is stopping a plan for $ 1 billion to create three data centers in the center of Ohio, only a few months after it also raised plans to build portions of a $ 3.3 million data center in Wisconsin.
To expand his cloud computer infrastructure, the technological giant had announced in late October that he would build data centers in New Albany, Hebron and Heath, all located east of Columbus, Ohio, in Licking County.
Microsoft hired Ames Construction as a general contractor for the first project in the new site of Albany, which was planned as a dollars of $ 2420 million, 245,000 square meters in 197 hectares. Construction began to begin this year with the end of 2027. Ames had begun to erase property in November and December, according to a community update published by Microsoft.
Plans for other places in Hebron and Heath were less advanced and contractors had not been announced.
“After a thorough consideration, at this time we will not move forward with our plans to create data centers at Licking County places,” Microsoft said in a statement. “We will continue to evaluate these sites according to our investment strategy.”
The company owns the three places. He said that two of them, in Hebron and Heath, will be used for agriculture.
“We are taking the right measures to ensure that the land in two of our sites can be used for agriculture and we continue with our development agreements to finance roads and service updates,” the company said.
If the reasons for the pause are related to the economy, the electrical energy needs or an overabundance of the data centers, Noelle Walsh, President of Microsoft Cloud Operations + Innovation, said in a Linkedin site that the planning of data centers is in advance and that the adjustments to projects in the initial stage in rapid growth industries is common.
“By nature, any new important effort to this size and scale requires agility and improvement as we learn and grow with our customers,” he said. “What this means is that we are slowing down or stopping some initial phase projects.”
Microsoft said that his plan for investing $ 80 million to create AI skills centers worldwide during 2025 financial year is still underway.
“These investments are informed by short and long term demand signals,” he said.
Answering the pause, Heath Mayor Mark Johns told a local television station that the town has spent 15 years building an industrial hallway in the community and does not have all its eggs in a basket.
“You’re not out of what you didn’t have,” he said. “What we have is a commitment to fund some very important infrastructure projects in the community.”
Licking County Commissioner Tim Bubb said Microsoft’s answer to questions about why data centers stopped [and included] Company re -evaluating the need to expand the data storage capacity. Stopping -to reassess the market. She is not willing to spend on the construction of new facilities now. ”
Despite the pause, the company’s global footprint is expanding to more than 60 regions and more than 350 data centers worldwide, said Walsh.
“Although we can strategically face our plans, we will continue to grow strongly and assign investments that remain aligned with business priorities and customer demand,” he added.
Bloomberg News reports that Microsoft has “recently stopped conversations or place development in Indonesia, United Kingdom, Australia, Illinois, North Dakota and Wisconsin.”
