Wisconsin Being Looked at as a New Home for Data Centers

Friday, November 7th, 2025 -- 8:01 AM

(Gray) With the rise of artificial intelligence, the country is looking to Wisconsin as a home for new data centers to fuel the demand.

More than a dozen experts and industry leaders in AI and data centers testified Wednesday at the Wisconsin State Capitol about these facilities. Data centers are physical facilities that house network and computer equipment.

They require significant amounts of water to help cool things down. The Great Lakes are one of the draws for data centers to build in Wisconsin and Midwest, providing easy access to water.

“Wisconsin is ready to seize this moment,” said Tyler Clark, U.S. Government Affairs Industry Director for Microsoft. Microsoft is planning to spend $4 billion to build a second data center in Mount Pleasant.

Clark said when the facility goes live, “it’ll be the most powerful AI data center in the world.” In Port Washington, Vantage plans to build a $15 billion AI data center.

“We also recognize the importance of being a good neighbor. We’re investing $175 million in local infrastructure,” said Kaitlin Monaghan of Vantage Data Centers.

The tech giants are looking to bring economic investments to Wisconsin while saying their water usage won’t be as great as critics warn. “This will use a fully-closed loop water design which saves billions of gallons of water annually,” Monaghan said.

But environmental advocacy group Clean Wisconsin is worried about water and energy usage. “Just two of the AI data centers projects approved in our state will use more energy than all homes in Wisconsin combined,” said Chelsea Chandler of Clean Wisconsin.

Many Wisconsin residents also have concerns. Wednesday’s hearing came the day after packed town halls in Janesville and the Village of DeForest, sites of other proposed data center construction.

“We need to make sure there’s not other kinds of pollution,” said Erica Lund, a Janesville resident said during the town hall. Wisconsin currently has 47 data centers, according to the Data Center Map, ranging from Milwaukee and Madison to Eau Claire and Wausau to Green Bay.

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