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DataCentersExposed
U.S. data-center footprint

Wisconsin

DataCentersExposed tracks 38 AI data centers in Wisconsin — 1 operating and 12 in the pipeline — across 13 counties, drawing 3.1 GW of reported power demand from 6 tracked corporate operators. Wisconsin's data-center tax break is projected to cost the state $40M in forgone revenue in FY2024.

Sources: Methodology, Coverage scorecard

Reporting by · Updated May 29, 2026

Tracked
38
data centers
Operating
1
live today
Pipeline
12
proposed / building
Demand
3.1 GW
9 w/ capacity
Counties
13
touched
Operators
6
corporate parents
The story so far

Wisconsin at a glance

The largest footprint in Wisconsin belongs to Microsoft Corporation, behind 3 tracked facilities. Meta Platforms, Inc., Vantage Data Centers Holdings, LLC, and Expedient, LLC round out the most active operators in the state. Many of these sites are filed under shell or project names rather than the parent's — our operator column resolves them back to the real corporate parent wherever the chain is documented.

Geographically, the buildout clusters: Milwaukee County leads Wisconsin with 4 facilities and a composite risk score of 7/100. Dunn County and Dane County follow. Our county risk score weights project exposure (40%), power demand (30%), water draw (15%), and land footprint (15%); the full breakdown is shown on each county page.

Wisconsin is not done growing. 12 facilities are in the pipeline — proposed, permitted, or under construction — which is where residents still have a say at zoning hearings and in rate cases. Each pending project is a decision about land, water, electricity prices, and tax revenue that hasn't been finalized.

We also surface the accountability trail: 8 state bills mentioning data centers and 6 recent news items are tracked for Wisconsin below, pulled from LegiScan and GDELT and refreshed automatically. Legislation is linked to the counties and operators it names; news is classified by community sentiment.

Modeled scenario · not announced

2035 Buildout Outlook

via PNNL IM3 (CC BY 4.0)

Under the model's moderate-growth scenario (5%/yr annual load growth), PNNL's IM3 model sites about 1 standardized 36 MW campus in Wisconsin by 2035 — roughly 36 MW of new electricity demand and ~35 M gal/yr of cooling water. For scale, we currently track 38 real data centers in Wisconsin (3.1 GW of reported power).

Modeled new campuses by demand-growth scenario
  • Higher growth1
    36 MW · ~35 M gal/yr cooling water

The model assigns ~100% of these campuses' cooling to evaporative water cooling in Wisconsin (the rest to mechanical/air cooling), a split it derives from local water stress and wet-bulb temperature.

These are modeled candidate sites, not announced or permitted facilities. PNNL's IM3 model places identical 36 MW unit-campuses at feasible locations under each scenario — it shows where demand could concentrate, never a specific parcel. Figures use a market-gravity weight of 50. How the model works.

Who's building

Top operators in Wisconsin

What the tax break costs

The taxpayer price tag

via Wisconsin Department of Revenue
$40Min forgone state revenue, FY2024 (state projection)
“Qualified Data Centers, s. 77.54(70) $40,000,000 Certain tangible personal property used in the development, construction, renovation or operation of a qualified data center are exempt from sales and use tax. The exemption is only available…”

Program-wide cost of Wisconsin's data-center tax incentive(s), reported by the state — not attributable to a single facility. “Proj” = the state's own forward estimate; all other figures are realized/audited. Each links to its primary source.

Identified abatements

Per-deal tax breaks on record

primary-source disclosures
4 disclosed exemptions; dollar values not itemized by the state.
  • Qualified Data Center Sales Tax Exemption4×

Specific incentive records we have matched in Wisconsin (state certified-exemption lists, agreements, and disclosures) — most have no public per-site dollar value, so a count is shown rather than an invented figure.

Where it's concentrated

County risk leaderboard

Risk methodology
Still contested

Pipeline & proposals

38 of 38 shown

All tracked facilities

FacilityOperatorStatusCountyMW
Janesville Data Center—ProposedRock25
Data center—ProposedMilwaukee—
Edge Data Center—ProposedDodge—
Fredonia Data Center—ProposedOzaukee—
Kenosha Microsoft Data CenterMicrosoft CorporationProposedKenosha—
Meta Data CenterMeta Platforms, Inc.ProposedRock—
Panattoni Turtle Data Center—ProposedRock—
Project CornmazeCambrin LLC., Meta?ProposedRock—
Project LighthouseVantage Data Centers Holdings, LLCUnder constructionOzaukee1,300
Stargate Lighthouse (Port Washington)Vantage Data Centers Holdings, LLCUnder constructionOzaukee County902
Microsoft Mount Pleasant (Fairwater Wisconsin)Microsoft CorporationUnder constructionRichland450
Beaver Dam Meta Data CenterMeta Platforms, Inc.Under constructionDodge220
Carlton Cloverleaf Data CenterCloverleafWithdrawnKewaunee100
Digital Power Optimization—WithdrawnWood20
Expedient MilwaukeeExpedient, LLCMapped (unverified)Milwaukee1.6
324 E Wisconsin—Mapped (unverified)——
5Nines Data—Mapped (unverified)——
612 W Main—Mapped (unverified)——
Caledonia Data CenterMicrosoft CorporationBlockedRacine—
Cloverleaf Data Center—WithdrawnBrown—
Data Holdings Data CenterVantage Data Centers Holdings, LLCMapped (unverified)Milwaukee—
Data Holdings Milwaukee—Mapped (unverified)——
DeForest QTS Data Center—WithdrawnDane—
EdgeConneX Madison (EDCMAD01)—Mapped (unverified)——
Ethoplex Data Center—Mapped (unverified)——
Ethoplex Edge DC - Green Bay—Mapped (unverified)——
Involta—Mapped (unverified)Calumet—
Lumen Madison 1 Data Center—Mapped (unverified)Dane—
Menomonie Data Center—BlockedDunn County—
Network 222—Mapped (unverified)——
Pewaukee Data CenterPrime Data CentersMapped (unverified)Waukesha—
SupraNet Communications Madison—Mapped (unverified)——
TSR Solutions Data Center—Mapped (unverified)——
TierPoint MilwaukeeTierPoint, LLCOperatingMilwaukee—
US Signal WI02 - Madison—Mapped (unverified)——
University of Wisconsin-Madison—Mapped (unverified)——
West Wisconsin Telcom—Mapped (unverified)Dunn—
ark data centers - Green Bay, WI—Mapped (unverified)——

Methodology & sources

Facility counts include operating, under-construction, proposed, and permitted sites. Capacity (MW) combines operator disclosures, interconnection-queue estimates, and research datasets; see each facility for provenance. County risk scores weight project exposure (40%), power demand (30%), water draw (15%), and land footprint (15%), renormalized over measured factors.

Every row carries a confidence level (high / medium / low) and a source URL. Spot an error? Tell us.