Wisconsin Data Center Intel

Recent Wisconsin data center news

• Jul 27, 2026 · Information Technology and Innovation Foundation

  Mobilizing for Techno-Economic War, Part 6: From Free Trade Agreements to Strategic Techno-Economic Agreements

  ITIF has published a policy report proposing Strategic Techno-Economic Agreements (STEAs) as a new framework for U.S.-led trade deals aimed at strengthening allied industries and constraining China.

  • The report argues that the free trade era is over and calls for binding, reciprocal agreements with allies that include zero-for-zero tariffs, digital trade rules, defense production cooperation, investment screening, export-control alignment, and counter-IP theft measures.
  • It also cites several recent or existing policy precedents and announcements, including USTR’s March 2026 Section 301 investigations, the U.S.-U.K. critical minerals MOU, and the Pax Silica initiative; the report itself is an original ITIF publication, not a news report of a single transaction.
• Jul 22, 2026

  White House Warns PJM to Reform Grid Governance ‘Before It Is Too Late’

  The White House has warned PJM Interconnection to overhaul its governance and stakeholder process, while PJM says it is still on the administration’s previously announced timeline.

  • The White House spokesperson said PJM has failed to implement the bipartisan Statement of Principles provided in January and urged reforms to stakeholder process, board governance, and implementation “before it is too late.”
  • PJM said it has worked with the White House Energy Dominance Council and the 13-state region’s governors, completed its stakeholder process on backstop procurement, and expects the Board to act in very short order.
  • FERC is scheduled to hold a technical conference on PJM governance and stakeholder process, with remarks from Peter Lake of the White House’s National Energy Dominance Council.
  • The debate is tied to rising power demand from AI data centers, cloud providers, and other large industrial customers, with concerns about interconnection queues, transmission expansion, and capacity costs.
• Jul 14, 2026

  New York becomes first US state to impose data center moratorium

  New York has announced a one-year moratorium on new large-scale data centers.

  • Governor Kathy Hochul signed the order into law, immediately pausing environmental permits for projects of 50MW or more while a regulatory framework is developed.
  • The framework will include a Generic Environmental Impact Statement on energy demand, water use and quality, and air quality, and local entities will receive guidance within 60 days on community benefits negotiations; the order also directs consideration of a New York Grid Acceleration Fund.
  • The article also references earlier and proposed legislation, including S.9144 introduced by Elizabeth Krueger and a proposed national moratorium, the Artificial Intelligence Data Center Moratorium Act, introduced by Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in March 2026.
• Jul 13, 2026

  Weather grows as one of data center growth’s greatest risks

  Zurich North America has released a report warning that AI-driven hyperscale data centers face a broader set of construction, operational, and insurance risks as buildouts accelerate.

  • Report focus: Zurich’s report, “Data Center Risks Right Now: Six Critical Questions to Enable a Resilient Buildout,” highlights severe weather, compressed construction schedules, energy infrastructure, water availability, downtime, equipment replacement delays, workforce shortages, and geopolitical/regulatory pressure.
  • Key figures: Zurich says hyperscalers are expected to spend $710 billion in capex during 2026, global data center investment could exceed $7 trillion by 2030, and new capacity added from 2026-2030 is expected to total about 100 GW; it also says average insured data center value has risen from about $150 million five years ago to roughly $3 billion today.
• Jul 10, 2026

  Lightpath to provide fiber infrastructure for two new hyperscale data center campuses

  Lightpath has announced it will provide fiber infrastructure and multi-terabit capacity to support two hyperscale data center campuses under construction in the United States.

  • The two campuses are planned to exceed one gigawatt each and are located in Saline, Michigan and Port Washington, Wisconsin.
  • The Saline build is scheduled for delivery by the end of this year, while Port Washington is expected in Q2 2027; both are being delivered with an anchor hyperscale customer that was not named.
  • Chris Morley said Lightpath is partnering with hyperscalers to build new fiber infrastructure for AI-driven demand; Tim Haverkate said the company will deliver route-diverse, multi-terabit capacity across new construction, existing network assets, and partner fiber.
• Jul 10, 2026

  FLOPS vs Megawatts: Who’s Winning in 2026 Supercomputing?

  The article provides analysis and commentary on 2026 supercomputing buildouts, contrasting public exascale systems with hyperscaler AI campuses. It is not a first-time announcement by one entity, but a roundup of recent developments and milestones.

  • The piece compares public TOP500 systems and private hyperscaler AI campuses, highlighting that private builds are measured in hundreds of megawatts to gigawatts rather than HPL scores.
  • It cites several recent milestones, including Microsoft’s Wisconsin Fairwater campus, xAI’s Colossus 2, OpenAI and Oracle’s Stargate, and Meta’s Prometheus nuclear power agreements.
  • It also notes Alice Recoque installation in France under a €354.8 million EuroHPC JU contract with Eviden and mentions the next TOP500 list at SC26 in November.
• Jul 10, 2026

  US-based BESS companies Peak Energy, ESS Inc and Unigrid aim to commercialise sodium-ion in US, Europe

  Peak Energy, ESS Tech Inc, and Unigrid have announced new sodium-ion energy storage manufacturing, product launches, and deployment milestones in the US and Europe.

  • Peak Energy selected Sacramento, California for a new Na-ion BESS manufacturing facility announced 8 July, targeting up to 4GWh annually and US$71 million in capital investment.
  • The project is expected to create 239 local jobs over 18 months; Peak also cited a US$10.5 million CalCompetes tax credit awarded in May 2026 and earlier phased deals including up to 4.75GWh with Jupiter Power.
  • ESS Tech Inc launched the ESS Bridge, a 1.2MWh modular Na-ion BESS for utilities, AI-driven data centres, critical infrastructure operators, and C&I customers; it can scale to 4.8MWh in the same footprint as a traditional 20-foot container.
  • Unigrid announced first deliveries of its Na+Casa residential BESS, rated at 9.25kWh, with installations in Europe and US availability expected by end of 2026 pending compliance requirements.
• Jul 9, 2026

  Plans for Milwaukee, Wisconsin, data center in former Walmart building shelved amid strong local opposition

  The proposed data center-style “computing research facility” at a former Walmart site in Milwaukee has been removed from the redevelopment application after local opposition.

  • The revised plan for the 108,000 sq ft Midtown site will keep the self-storage facility and add new housing plus a Milwaukee Public Library branch.
  • The original concept would have used about 19,000 sq ft for a high-performance computing facility with a closed-loop glycol cooling system; Alderman Mark Chambers, Jr. said the change followed public engagement and testimony.
• Jul 8, 2026

  Patented: Topgolf’s Newest Award and More Inventions Across North Texas

  Dallas Invents has reported a weekly roundup of patents granted in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, highlighting Topgolf’s new patent among other local assignees and inventors.

  • Topgolf International, Inc. received U.S. Patent No. 12649095 for a Galton configuration in golf ball receiving apparatus and systems that uses RFID tags and an antenna reader to identify golf balls while avoiding jams.
  • The article is a news roundup/commentary on patent activity, not a first-time corporate announcement; it also lists other grants to entities including Texas Instruments, Toyota, Samsung, Bank of America, Citibank, USAA, Halliburton, and Akamai.
• Jul 7, 2026

  Manure-to-energy projects eye data centres as new market, raising environmental concerns

  The article explains that manure-based biogas is being used and promoted as a renewable energy source for data centres and cryptocurrency mining, while critics warn it may reinforce factory-farm expansion.

  • Ag-Grid Energy operates a project at Lent Hill Dairy Farm in Steuben County, New York, where two anaerobic co-digesters convert manure from around 4,000 cows and more than 45,000 gallons of food waste per day into renewable natural gas (RNG) used to power an on-site cryptocurrency mining facility.
  • The company says it also plans to support small-scale data centres in rural areas with on-site power generation and fibre-optic connectivity; the article adds that Vanguard Renewables operates or develops more than 50 co-digesters in the US and aims for more than 100 by end-2028, while biogas projects have received over $150 million from the Inflation Reduction Act and more than $100 million in private bonds approved by the Michigan Strategic Fund.