Microsoft data‑centre push

Microsoft said on April 14 it plans to buy about 3,200 acres south of Cheyenne, Wyoming, for a new multiyear data-center expansion. (news.microsoft.com) The land package includes a 200-acre parcel in Bison Business Park on Wapiti Trail and an adjacent 3,000-acre tract in southeast Cheyenne. Microsoft said the project will go through public hearings before development moves ahead. (news.microsoft.com) Local reporting said the purchase would roughly triple Microsoft’s physical footprint in Wyoming’s capital. Cowboy State Daily reported Microsoft already has 11 operating data centers in Cheyenne and three more under construction across four campuses. (cowboystatedaily.com) Data centers are the warehouse-sized buildings that store servers, and artificial intelligence systems need thousands of those chips running at once to train models and answer prompts. Microsoft said the Cheyenne buildout is meant to support datacenter development as demand for AI and cloud computing keeps rising. (news.microsoft.com) Cheyenne has been part of Microsoft’s network since 2012, and the company says it has committed more than $68 million to off-site infrastructure there, including roads, storm sewers, pump stations and water upgrades. Mayor Patrick Collins said the expansion could bring another decade of tax revenue and investment. (news.microsoft.com) The company is also trying to answer local concerns about utility strain. Microsoft said future Cheyenne development will use its Large Power Contract Service arrangement with Black Hills Energy so datacenter growth does not raise electricity prices for other customers. (news.microsoft.com) The land push comes as Microsoft faces scrutiny over how it runs its cloud business abroad. Reuters reported on February 25 that Japan’s Fair Trade Commission raided Microsoft Japan’s offices as part of an investigation into whether Azure customers were improperly restricted from using rival cloud services. (cnbc.com) Microsoft Japan said it was “fully cooperating” with the Japan Fair Trade Commission, according to Reuters. The same Reuters report said regulators in Britain, Europe, the United States and Brazil have also examined Microsoft’s cloud practices. (cnbc.com) Microsoft’s spending plans stretch well beyond Wyoming. In a February 17 post, President Brad Smith and Natasha Crampton said the company is on pace to invest $50 billion by the end of the decade to expand artificial-intelligence infrastructure, connectivity and skills across the Global South. (blogs.microsoft.com) That $50 billion pledge followed an even larger buildout target closer to home. In January 2025, Smith said Microsoft was on track to spend about $80 billion in fiscal 2025 to build AI-enabled data centers, with more than half of that spending in the United States. (blogs.microsoft.com) Cheyenne now sits at the intersection of those two tracks: more land, more power and more chips on one side, and more questions from regulators on the other. The next test is whether Microsoft can clear local hearings in Wyoming while answering antitrust investigators overseas. (news.microsoft.com)