Microsoft Corp. plans to spend $1 billion building three data centers in central Ohio, and says it may continue building more facilities at the sites in the future.
Regional economic development organization One Columbus announced Microsoft’s plan Oct. 28. The tech giant has identified sites in New Albany, Hebron and Heath—all located east of Columbus in Licking County—to build data center campuses as part of its cloud computing infrastructure, which already includes 300 data centers and 280,000 km of fiber globally.
“The Columbus region’s skilled workforce, strong infrastructure and strategic location make it ideal for this project,” said Bowen Wallace, Microsoft corporate vice president of datacenters, Americas region, in a statement.
Microsoft plans to develop each campus in phases that may include additional facilities in the future, but the timelines for each will depend on their own design, planning and permitting process. In New Albany, local officials approved an agreement this month allowing the company to move forward with its project there and providing a 15-year property tax abatement for the 197-acre site.
The initial plans for New Albany call for a 245,000-sq-ft data center estimated to cost $420 million, records show. Construction is set to start in April 2026 and complete by December 2027.
Microsoft has not publicly identified a contractor and did not immediately respond to inquiries about procurement for the project.
The company joins other tech majors, including Meta, Amazon Web Services, Google and QTS building data centers in New Albany. Intel also is building a pair of semiconductor fabrication plants there. Mayor Sloan Spalding said in a statement that the Microsoft project “not only reinforces New Albany’s reputation as a hub for innovation and technology, but also represents a significant step forward in our continued efforts to attract world-class companies to our community.”
Various water, wastewater and road projects are underway in the city to accommodate the growing facilities.
The Hebron and Heath locations are still pending local approvals, although the mayors of both communities spoke positively about the projects in written statements.
But the projects fall within the area covered by power utility AEP Ohio, which has filed a request with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio to add tariffs on new data centers to ensure it can cover the cost of infrastructure required to serve them.
Earlier this month, a group of data center owners filed a proposed agreement that would require large data center owners to pay for at least 75% of the energy they say they need each month, even if they end up using less power. Microsoft has supported that proposal. However, AEP filed its own proposal backed by state staff and others that would require an 85% minimum payment. A hearing on the application is set for Nov. 4.
Virginia Data Center Power Project
In Virginia, the owner of a completely separate data center project has proposed powering them on site with natural gas supplied by the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline, which entered service earlier this year after court and legislative boosts last year.
Balico LLC has applied to Pittsylvania County to use 2,233 acres of land zoned for agriculture for a campus of 84 data centers plus power generation and an on-site wastewater treatment facility, records show.
Reports say the power plant could have as much as 3,500 MW of generation capacity, which would make it the largest such facility in the state, Power magazine reports. Balico also was behind plans to build the 1.6-GW Chickahominy power plant in Charles City County, Va., a project that was abandoned in 2022 amid opposition from several groups.
Balico’s application materials show each data center building would be 394,000 sq ft and 40-ft tall.
Irfan Ali, who is listed as the managing member of Balico in state business records, has been meeting with local residents to present his idea and hear concerns about the project. Local news website Cardinal News reported more than 100 people attended one meeting with Ali and spending more than two-and-a-half hours questioning him and sharing opposition to the plan.
The county planning commission is scheduled to hear the proposal at its Nov. 7 meeting.
