Dive Brief:
- OpenAI, Oracle and Vantage Data Centers plan to develop a nearly one gigawatt data center campus outside Milwaukee as part of the ongoing Stargate partnership, according to an Oct. 22 release.
- The four-building, $15 billion campus in Port Washington, Wisconsin, will feature several infrastructure upgrades, including $175 million in local water and power facilities, as well as improvements to wastewater capacity and sewer lines.
- The announcement marks Stargate’s continued nationwide expansion and underscores the data center sector’s growing role in overall construction activity.
Dive Insight:
The Wisconsin project is a significant step in Stargate’s $500 billion push to build 10 gigawatts of artificial intelligence infrastructure nationwide.
The initiative has rapidly expanded since its January launch, with new sites in Texas, New Mexico and Ohio underway. Stargate’s pipeline now totals nearly 7 gigawatts of planned capacity, including its Abilene, Texas, flagship campus, which began delivering Nvidia GB200 racks in June.
For contractors, the deal highlights how the AI-driven data center boom continues to fuel demand, despite some concerns for the rest of commercial construction. For example, contractors with data center work now report roughly 12 months of backlog, well above the 8.5-month industry average.
“As demand for data centers expands beyond traditional hubs, the upper Midwest has become a critical and strategic market,” said Dana Adams, president of North America at Vantage Data Centers, in the release. “Our investment in Wisconsin reflects the area’s strong foundation for digital growth to support sustainable AI innovation at scale.”
Construction of the campus in Wisconsin will begin soon and finish in 2028, according to the release.
