• Microsoft has plans to build a data center in Wisconsin.

• Earlier this month the company bought more than 400 acres of land that included a pumpkin farm.

• Microsoft is one among several tech giants investing into data centers in the AI arms race.

Microsoft is buying up acres of land in Wisconsin for a new campus of data centers.

The tech giant’s latest addition is a stretch of 407 acres it bought from the Creuziger family earlier this month for about $76 million, according to the Milwaukee Business Journal.

The property itself is valued at just under $600,000, and the Creuziger family used it for farming, and also operated a pumpkin farm attraction on it called the “Land of the Giants Pumpkin Farm,” according to the outlet.

And Microsoft’s payout is a major win for the family. The deal was more than three times the amount the local government had offered the Creuziger family back in 2017, as part of an agreement with iPhone maker Foxconn, according to the Milwaukee Business Journal. While the family wasn’t opposed to selling the land at the time, they were hoping to fetch a higher price for it, according to the outlet.

With regards to the recent sale, the family “wishes the village and Microsoft well, and they would appreciate people respecting their privacy,” David Barnes, the local attorney who represented the Creuziger family, told the Milwaukee Business Journal.

Microsoft, meanwhile, has also struck land deals with local county and municipal governments, and has accrued close to two square miles of land in the region for its data center developments, the Milwaukee Business Journal reported.

And the first $1 billion phase of construction covering around 215 acres is already underway, the outlet said. The company is expecting this first phase to create 200 jobs, but future construction could add an additional 460 jobs, according to the Milwaukee Business Journal.

As the AI arms race heats up, tech giants like Microsoft have been investing heavily into building out data centers, given the amount of computing power and energy required by AI technology. And rural regions of America, like parts of Wisconsin, are becoming a hotbed for new development.

Microsoft did not respond to BI’s request for a comment.

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