What you need to know
- Microsoft will invest $3.3 billion to construct an AI datacenter in Racine, Wisconsin.
- The site of the new AI datacenter is the same site Foxconn once had a facility.
- The Foxconn facility was originally planned to create 13,000 jobs and see an investment of $10 billion by 2032 but the project was scaled back drastically.
- The new AI datacenter project announced by Biden officials should create 2,300 construction jobs and 2,000 permanent jobs if all goes to plan.
Microsoft will invest $3.3 billion in a project to build an AI datacenter in Racine County, Wisconsin. President Joseph Biden will travel to Wisconsin to announce the news, according to Biden officials. The major investment from Microsoft will help shift the AI landscape, which becomes increasingly more complex and competitive by the day.
The announcement comes at a time when tech giants are racing to lead the AI industry. Microsoft has invested billions into OpenAI and other AI projects. Recent reports state Microsoft and OpenAI plan to invest up to $100 billion in datacenters to shift away from reliance on NVIDIA. Even Coca-Cola has invested over $1 billion into AI through a partnership with Microsoft.
AI already powers personal computing, enterprise workloads, and the cloud. The demand for artificial intelligence seems guaranteed to go up rapidly. Microsoft wants to shift away from reliance on other companies, such as NVIDIA, to meet AI demand. The $3.3 billion investment in the Racine County project is one of many steps in that direction.
Microsoft will also create a Datacenter academy in Wisconsin to train 1,000 people in STEM jobs. That academy will employ up to 2,000 people as well.
Not just about AI
While this is major news in the world of AI, there is also a political element to this announcement. The location of the upcoming datacenter is the same location as the Foxconn facility former President Donald Trump called the "eighth wonder of the world." That facility was scaled back significantly.
Originally, the Foxconn facility was supposed to create 13,000 jobs and see up to a $10 billion investment by 2032. After being scaled back, only 1,454 jobs were created and the planned investment was reduced to $672 million by 2026, as reported by Axios.
The investment by Microsoft announced by Biden officials will create 2,300 union construction jobs and then 2,000 permanent jobs in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin if all goes to plan. Of course, plans can always change, as we've already seen on the site with the Foxconn facility.
The White House press release on the announcement wastes no time in mentioning the "prior administration," connecting President Trump to the Foxconn facility.
"Today, President Biden will travel to Racine, Wisconsin – the same location as the failed Foxconn investment that the prior administration visited six years ago – to showcase a community at the heart of his commitment to invest in places that have been historically overlooked or failed by the last administration’s policies," says the statement.
"President Biden will announce a $3.3 billion investment by Microsoft to build a new artificial intelligence (AI) datacenter in Racine, creating 2,300 union construction jobs and 2,000 permanent jobs over time."
The release also highlights the fact that Foxconn is a "Taiwanese electronics manufacturer." Microsoft, in contrast, is a US company.
The release contrasts the current administration with the previous one several times, at one point stating, "President Biden promised that unlike his predecessor, he wouldn’t leave communities like Racine behind."
As AI demand increases across several sectors, Microsoft and other tech giants will continue to invest heavily into datacenters and related technologies. Those investments are also likely intertwine with politics.
