President Joe Biden to join Microsoft for announcement in Mount Pleasant
Microsoft today announced a broad investment package designed to strengthen the role of Southeast Wisconsin as a hub for AI-powered economic activity, innovation, and job creation. These investments include $3.3B in cloud computing and AI infrastructure, the creation of the country’s first manufacturing-focused AI co-innovation lab, and an AI skilling initiative to equip more than 100,000 of the state’s residents with essential AI skills. President Joe Biden will join Microsoft President Brad Smith at Gateway Technical College to announce the new investment.
“Wisconsin has a rich and storied legacy of innovation and ingenuity in manufacturing,” said Brad Smith, Vice Chair and President of Microsoft. “We will use the power of AI to help advance the next generation of manufacturing companies, skills and jobs in Wisconsin and across the country. This is what a big company can do to build a strong foundation for every medium, small and start-up company and non-profit everywhere.”
These investments will be rolled out in a four-part strategy designed to create long-term benefits for the state’s economy and job market.
Investing in cloud and AI infrastructure
First, Microsoft will invest $3.3B between now and the end of 2026 to expand its national cloud and AI infrastructure capacity through the development of a state-of-the-art datacenter campus in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin. The project is expected to bring an influx of 2,300 union construction jobs to the area by 2025, as well as providing long-term employment opportunities over the next several years. This new infrastructure will help enable companies in Wisconsin and across the country to develop, deploy and use the world’s most advanced cloud services and AI applications to grow, modernize and improve their products and enterprises.
Along with building a physical data center, Microsoft will partner with Gateway Technical College to build a Data Center Academy to train and certify more than 1,000 students in five years to work in the new data center and IT sector jobs created in the area.
“This is a watershed moment for Wisconsin and a critical part of our work to build a 21st-century workforce and economy in the Badger State,” said Governor Tony Evers. “Microsoft is a blue-chip corporation that recognizes the strength of Wisconsin’s workers, infrastructure, economy, and our quality of life. Microsoft has chosen to locate and invest here because they know the future is here in Wisconsin.”
Transforming businesses of all sizes in every industry
Second, to help build a thriving regional AI innovation economy, Microsoft will establish a manufacturing focused AI Co-Innovation Lab on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the first of its kind in the United States. This lab will connect Wisconsin manufacturers and other companies with Microsoft’s AI experts and developers to design and prototype AI and cloud solutions to improve and accelerate their work and grow their business. This lab will aim to serve 270 Wisconsin companies by 2030, including 135 manufacturing businesses.
The lab will connect with TitletownTech in Green Bay, which was co-founded in 2017 and is funded in part by Microsoft and the Green Bay Packers. Microsoft and the Packers are similarly partnering to help fund the new lab in Milwaukee, which will be staffed in part by Microsoft AI experts and venture experts from TitletownTech.
“The Green Bay Packers are excited to continue our partnership with Microsoft, which we first established with TitletownTech near Lambeau Field, and now will expand and enhance as we collaborate with the AI Co-Innovation Lab,” said Mark Murphy, President and CEO of the Green Bay Packers.
Read more at news.microsoft.com.