As data center developments continue to come to southeastern Wisconsin, a business group says it wants to make it easier for people to find basic information about those projects.
Milwaukee 7, which works to attract and retain businesses in southeastern Wisconsin, has created a data center resource hub.
The hub allows people to find information on such projects. That includes the number of jobs, the amount of investment, and how much water and energy would be used.
It has fact sheets for the Microsoft data center in Mount Pleasant and the OpenAI data center in Port Washington.
“With interest in data center opportunities continuing to grow, and more questions emerging about those already operating in our region, understanding their accurate economic and community impacts is essential,” said M7 Executive Director Rebecca Gries.
“Economic developers play a key role by asking the right questions and relying on research-based facts to clearly demonstrate that data centers provide real economic benefits to our communities, while ensuring these investments align with community and regional strategic priorities,” Gries said, in a statement.
To be clear, not every Wisconsin data center development is included in the hub as some are outside of the Milwaukee 7 region.
For example, Facebook parent company Meta is planning to build a data center in Beaver Dam and data center operator QTS is planning a bulti-billion dollar development in Dane County.
Microsoft President Brad Smith says the company will be more transparent about its data center developments.
Smith made those comments during a Jan. 13 visit to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s AI Co-Innovation Lab.
He also told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel the need for more transparency was driven home by opposition to the company’s plans for a Caledonia data center. Microsoft has since dropped that project.
Smith’s comments were welcomed by Wisconsin environmental groups – but also drew skepticism.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee 7 launches data center ‘hub’ with basic info on projects
Reporting by Ricardo Torres, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
