(DEFOREST) A Virginia-based data center company has announced plans for a sprawling 615-acre campus along Highway V west of DeForest that could consist of as many as 15 buildings and cost up to $3 billion.
The Wisconsin State Journal reports QTS Data Centers’ project could create 450 permanent positions and thousands of temporary construction jobs, and bring in millions of dollars in property tax revenue. The largely agricultural area would be transformed into a high-tech, new use designed to slake the computational thirst of potential internet-based clients.
In Dodge County, a more than $850 million data center has been proposed for 500 acres in the Beaver Dam Commerce Park. Bloomberg News reports the company behind the proposal is Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.
Microsoft plans to build a data center in Racine County, while the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that Denver-based Vantage wants to build a data center north of Port Washington.
To aid the Port Washington and Beaver Dam projects, Gov. Tony Evers last week signed a bipartisan bill that creates exceptions for tax increment districts in the two communities.
Data centers provide businesses with computing capacity without those businesses investing in the physical facilities needed to store and maintain computer servers, which require vast amounts of power and cooling systems.
