On Thursday, Microsoft made a public announcement stating that it is set to invest a staggering US$4 billion in the construction of a second data center in Wisconsin. The initial data center, which has already drawn an investment of US$3.3 billion, is on track to commence operations in early 2026.

This cutting-edge facility will be outfitted with hundreds of thousands of Nvidia Blackwell GB200 chips. These chips are specifically designed to cater to the cloud infrastructure requirements of companies that are actively running artificial intelligence models.

In a move towards sustainability, Microsoft has made a firm commitment. It pledges to balance out the energy consumed from fossil fuels by contributing an equivalent amount of carbon-free energy to the power grid. Moreover, the tech giant will prepay for the energy and power infrastructure costs associated with the data center.

A solar farm, situated 150 miles northwest of the data center, will play a crucial role in powering the facility. It is set to supply 250 megawatts of power. However, it's worth noting that the combined power demands of the two facilities (the existing and the upcoming one) could potentially surpass 900 megawatts.

The land chosen for the construction of the first data center was originally earmarked for a Foxconn factory. In terms of resource consumption, this data center is expected to use up to 2.8 million gallons of water annually. Microsoft's CEO has made a bold claim, stating that the performance of this data center will be tenfold compared to that of today's fastest supercomputers.

As for the second data center, it will be comparable in size to the first one. Its operational launch is anticipated in 2027 or at a later date.

In addition to these developments in Wisconsin, Microsoft has outlined other significant investment plans. By 2028, the company intends to invest an additional US$15.5 billion in infrastructure spending in the UK. Furthermore, Microsoft has entered into an agreement to spend US$19.4 billion over the next five years. This investment will be used to lease capacity from the AI data center operated by the Amsterdam-based Nebius Group.