Michigan Data Center Intel

Recent Michigan data center news

• May 26, 2026

  123NET’s Noah Lessaris Named to DBusiness ‘30 in Their Thirties’

  123NET’s Data Center Development Director Noah Lessaris has been named one of DBusiness magazine’s “30 in Their Thirties” for 2026.

  • Main announcement: Noah Lessaris was named to DBusiness’ Class of 2026 “30 in Their Thirties” and was recognized at a special awards breakfast at the International Banquet and Conference Center in Detroit; the Class and Lessaris’ feature appear in the May/June 2026 issue of DBusiness.
  • Background/details: Lessaris joined 123NET shortly after graduating from Illinois State, has eight years of industry experience, was recently appointed Director of Data Center Development at 123NET, and also serves as Director of Strategic Peering for the Detroit Internet Exchange; the article includes his remarks on the importance of Michigan data centers and credit to 123NET for career development.
• May 21, 2026

  Google Pledges Power, Ratepayer Protections in $15B Missouri Data Center Expansion

  Google announced it will invest $15 billion in Missouri infrastructure and build a new New Florence data center while contracting to bring more than 1 GW of new generation capacity to the state.

  • Main announcement: Google will invest $15 billion in Missouri infrastructure for a New Florence data center, pay for all power used by the new facility, cover infrastructure costs directly driven by its operations, and has committed to bring more than 1 GW of new generation capacity to Missouri; Google also entered a Capacity Commitment Framework (CCF) with Ameren that moved to support development of more than 500 MW of additional capacity (it is unclear whether the 500 MW is included within the 1 GW total). The CCF has been embedded in a PSC-approved tariff (Nov. 24, 2025) signed by Google, Ameren Missouri, Evergy Metro, Evergy Missouri West, the Sierra Club, Renew Missouri, and Missouri Industrial Energy Consumers, imposing 12-to-17-year minimum service contracts, collateral equal to two years of minimum bills, and an 80% minimum monthly demand charge.
  • Background and related commitments: Google announced a $20 million Energy Impact Fund for home weatherization in counties around Kansas City and New Florence and is funding a Laborers and Contractors Training Center to train more than 2,300 construction laborers (including 1,500 apprentices) over the next two years; Google has executed 1.17 GW of 20-year PPAs with Clearway (Jan 2026), signed a hydropower framework with Brookfield (contemplating up to 3 GW nationally), and has contracted for more than 22 GW of clean energy since 2010. Ameren reported 2.2 GW of signed energy services agreements (ESAs) as of February and 3.4 GW of construction agreements in Missouri, with more than 5 GW of new generation resources planned through 2030 (including two 800-MW simple-cycle gas plants and a 2,100-MW combined-cycle plant planned for 2031).
• May 21, 2026

  Texture Raises $12.5M to Tackle the Operational Complexity of the Modern Grid

  Texture announced a $12.5 million Series A financing co-led by VoLo Earth Ventures and Equal Ventures on May 20, 2026.

  • Funding and purpose: The Series A is $12.5 million, with participation from Lerer Hippeau and Abstract Ventures; the round brings Texture’s total funding to approximately $23 million and will fund team growth and platform expansion (Texture is already operational at utility cooperatives and energy companies and holds SOC 2 Type I and Type II certifications).
  • Deployment and partnerships: Texture provides a real-time grid “operating layer” with 50+ OEM integrations (including Tesla, FranklinWH, Honeywell, Ecobee, SolarEdge), is used by Vermont Electric Cooperative, enabled an Ann Arbor community battery across 100 homes (operational March 2026), and has a partnership with NRTC to offer the NRTC DERMS to 850 member co-ops; Kareem Dabbagh (VoLo) joined Texture’s board as part of the financing.
• May 20, 2026

  Why FAST-41 Now Covers AI Data Centers and Copper

  The Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council (FPISC) has expanded FAST-41 coverage to include AI-linked developments and granted FAST-41 coverage to Alaska’s Arctic copper and critical minerals project.

  • Main action: FAST-41 now explicitly covers Artificial intelligence and machine learning and High-performance computing, advanced computer hardware and software; the program has added a QTS Richmond campus (seven buildings, ~3.2 million sq ft) as its first covered data center and QTS reported nearly 4 GW of simultaneous hyperscale deployments.
  • Background and details: The Arctic project centers on copper supply for substations, transformers, switchgear, and transmission; reported constraints include transformer lead times of 18–24 months, wires/cables up 152% since 2019, switchgear up 77%, NERC projection of +224 GW summer peak demand over the next decade, Wood Mackenzie estimates of 274% and 116% demand increases for generator step-up and power transformers respectively, and regulatory measures such as Michigan’s requirement that DTE Electric use a 19-year take-or-pay structure for large-load customers.
• May 19, 2026

  Washington Township data center developer withdraws application

  Prologis has withdrawn its rezoning application for a proposed 312-acre data center site in Washington Township.

  • Main action: Prologis withdrew its rezoning application in a May 19 letter and said it will wait until the township adopts an ordinance governing data center facilities before reapplying; the site is a 312-acre development south of 32 Mile Road (four parcels, between M-53 and Powell Road), and the township clerk, Audrey Brown, placed a temporary moratorium on all data center applications on the May 20 board meeting agenda.
  • Background and details: The original submission was a conditional rezoning to an Industrial–Research–Technology zoning district (with a 5-year reversion clause if the development isn’t completed within five years of site plan approval); the planning packet cited demand from rapid growth in artificial intelligence, and the article references other regional data center projects including a 575-acre Saline Township site and a 950-acre proposed Howell campus (related news also notes a $474-million DTE Energy rate-hike filing tied to a Saline data center timeline).
• May 19, 2026

  Data center news: Saline Township treasurer resigns over data center death threats

  Saline Township Treasurer Jennifer Zink has resigned citing death threats tied to the 1.4-gigawatt Related Digital data center project.

  • Main announcement: Jennifer Zink resigned after six years as Saline Township Treasurer, citing death threats related to the 1.4-gigawatt Related Digital data center project developed for Oracle and OpenAI; the project was allowed to proceed after a legal settlement overturning the township board’s rezoning rejection.
  • Background and other developments:Lyon Township unanimously denied drainage easements for Walbridge’s 1.8-million-square-foot Project Flex on a 172-acre site (Walbridge offered to fund roughly $3 million–$4 million in improvements); the University of Michigan’s planned $1.2 billion high-performance computing/data center project is trending toward Willow Run after a proposed Textile Road site was described as “dead”; a judge has cleared a recall effort of all seven Augusta Township board members over rezoning for a Thor Equities hyperscale data center, and water experts warn undisclosed data center water/electricity use could strain resources near Lake Michigan.
• May 18, 2026 · Information Technology and Innovation Foundation

  Advanced Geothermal Energy Is Widely Available, Clean, and Maybe Cheap Enough to Make a Big Impact

  ITIF (Robin Gaster) reports that advanced geothermal technologies (EGS, AGS, SHR) are transitioning from R&D to commercial deployment, led by Fervo Energy’s commercial-scale EGS rollout and multiple signed offtake agreements.

  • Main announcement: ITIF documents that EGS, AGS, and SHR are moving toward commercial scale, with Fervo Energy expanding Cape Station from 400 MW to 500 MW, Phase I delivering 100 MW in 2026 and full 500 MW operational by 2028, and with multiple PPAs (including Southern California Edison: 320 MW, 15-year contracts) already executed; DOE’s FORGE has received $298 million (total committed) with an $80 million extension through 2028 supporting field validation.
  • Background and details: The report catalogs federal and private financing and policy actions: Fervo’s $244 million Series D (Devon Energy lead), a Vallourec supply deal worth up to $800 million over 5 years, DOE/ARPA-E programs (SUPERHOT, OG/GTO funding), specific cost metrics (drilling costs per well fell from $9.4M to $4.8M; target <$3M), and pending legislation (e.g., GEO Act, STEAM Act) to streamline permitting and federal land access.
• May 14, 2026

  Substation for 1 GW Google data center clears planning commission despite overflow crowd’s objections

  Van Buren Township Planning Commission approved preliminary site plans for a substation and switching station serving Google’s planned 1-gigawatt “Project Cannoli” data center.

  • Project details and approvals: The approval covers a substation and switching station on 9 acres for the Project Cannoli data center (total site 282 acres, with 10 acres of wetlands to be filled and 130 acres to remain undeveloped). The data center will use 1 GW of electricity (roughly equivalent to 800,000 homes) and 2–3.6 million gallons/day of water. DTE says contracts for the project include 450 MW of energy storage, 1.6 GW of renewable energy, and demand response provisions; DTE expects nearly $1.7 billion in “positive affordability benefits” for customers.
  • Community concerns and developer commitments: Residents raised issues about noise, property values, eminent domain, and cumulative infrastructure impacts; developers (Panattoni, DTE, ITC) denied plans to seize private property, pledged to use public rights of way for underground cables and to put the no-eviction promise in writing, and said the switching station will not include transformers and will use 80-foot h-frames (visible above an 8–15 ft berm).
    • Upcoming meetings:
      • Van Buren Township Planning Commission Meeting — May 27, 5:30 PM (agenda: local planning commission review; link provided in article).
      • Michigan Public Service Commission meeting — May 28, 2026, 1:00 PM (agenda: utility-related matters relevant to the project).
• May 14, 2026

  Land and Expand: NVIDIA, IREN, Coatue, Microsoft, Switch, Cerebras, Core Scientific

  NVIDIA announced two major partnerships to accelerate industrial-scale AI infrastructure deployment with IREN and Corning Incorporated.

  • Main announcement: NVIDIA partnered with IREN to target deployment of up to 5 gigawatts of NVIDIA DSX-aligned AI infrastructure (focus on IREN’s 2-gigawatt Sweetwater campus in Texas) and separately partnered with Corning Incorporated to expand U.S. optical connectivity manufacturing (10x optical connectivity capacity increase; >50% domestic fiber production increase; construction of three new advanced manufacturing facilities in North Carolina and Texas). The IREN deal includes a five-year right for IREN to sell NVIDIA up to 30 million ordinary shares at $70 per share (potential consideration up to $2.1 billion).
  • Background and details: The article details additional industry moves into powered land, gigawatt campuses, crypto-to-AI conversions, and domestic supply-chain expansion, including Coatue/Next Frontier & Fluidstack’s 430 MW Indiana campus backed by $5.7 billion in senior secured notes (first 65 MW online by July 2027), Digi Power X’s 10-year MSA with Cerebras for a 40 MW Columbiana, AL campus (initial contract ~$1.1 billion, potential $2.5 billion, Phase 1 ready-for-service targeted Dec. 15, 2026), CloudBurst’s Texas campus ($14.5 billion investment; 1.2 GW planned), and Core Scientific’s acquisitions and campus expansions (e.g., $421 million cash acquisition of Polaris DS LLC; Muskogee and Pecos expansions to ~1.5 GW gross power).
• May 14, 2026

  Policymakers Consider Temporary Pause on AI Data Center Construction: What Stakeholders Need to Know

  On March 25, 2026, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced the Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act.

  • Main announcement: The Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act, introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on March 25, 2026, would impose a nationwide halt on constructing or upgrading new or existing data centers with a power demand of 20 megawatts (MW) or more until “strong national safeguards” are in place; the Act also seeks to bar government subsidies, require union labor/prevailing wages, and give affected communities ability to approve or reject projects.
  • Background and related measures: Multiple state and local actions are cited including New York Senate Bill 9144 (prohibits permits for data centers capable of using 20 MW or more until new regulations), indefinite local moratoriums (e.g., Oldham County, KY), over 100 localities with moratoria, a reported $156 billion across 48 projects blocked or delayed in 2025, and the Port Washington, WI referendum requiring voter approval for tax-increment financing for projects with base value or project costs over $10 million; Virginia legislative action (Senate Bill 30) would end a sales/use tax exemption for certain data center equipment on January 1, 2027.