Microsoft has started initial construction on a $1B data center project on a Wisconsin parcel previously slated to be part of a controversial Foxconn manufacturing campus that drew national headlines.

Excavation has begun on Microsoft’s planned 315-acre campus in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Business Journal reports.

The massive facility, which could see more than 700 megawatts of power delivered to the property, sits on land once expected to be part of a megacampus for Taiwanese manufacturing giant Foxconn, a project former president Donald Trump once touted as “the eighth wonder of the world” but that has since been scaled back.

First announced in March, the initial phase of Microsoft’s Mount Pleasant campus will see four data center buildings constructed on 215 acres. The project will also require the construction of a new 26-acre electrical substation in addition to an existing substation on the property. According to the Milwaukee Business Journal, the planned infrastructure will be capable of delivering 752 MW of power to the site.

Foundation work will begin this fall, with the campus expected to be operational by the end of 2026. The second phase of build-out on the remaining acreage isn't anticipated until 2033. The Milwaukee Business Journal also reported that Microsoft has chosen Chicago-based Walsh Construction as the project’s lead contractor.

The 315 acres acquired by Microsoft were part of a 2,500-acre assemblage organized by local and state officials as the location of a $10B manufacturing hub that put the small commuter suburb briefly in the national spotlight.

Announced by then-President Donald Trump and then-Gov. Scott Walker in 2017, Foxconn’s planned manufacturing campus followed millions in subsidized infrastructure improvements and tax breaks that amounted to the largest subsidy ever granted to a foreign company in the U.S.

But Foxconn would subsequently scale back its plans in Mount Pleasant dramatically. While the company does operate a facility there and maintains control of over 1,000 acres, officials were forced to begin a search for new potential users for 1,275 acres, much of it with new subsidized transmission lines and other infrastructure already in place.

In addition to Microsoft, Intel considered sections of the Mount Pleasant property for a $20B chip fabrication plant in 2022 before opting to build the facility in Ohio.

Microsoft’s decision to locate a large-scale campus in Mount Pleasant also reflects hyperscalers’ increased willingness to build data centers outside of major industry hubs. As Bisnow has reported, surging demand is running headlong into constraints on power and land in major data center markets.

As tech giants like Microsoft, Amazon and Google rush to lease and build out capacity to support computing for cloud services and artificial intelligence, they are looking for power anywhere they can find it. That includes locations like Mount Pleasant, just an hour's drive from Chicago but until now off the data center industry’s radar.