Governor Eric J. Holcomb announced Tuesday, June 4 that Microsoft will invest $1 billion to establish a new data center in northwest Indiana. The new facility, which will create up to 200 new jobs by the end of 2032 in La Porte, will accelerate cloud computing infrastructure to support growth in technology and artificial intelligence worldwide.
Microsoft, headquartered in Redmond, Washington, will construct a new 245,000-square-foot data center on 489 acres at the Radius Industrial Park in La Porte. The campus will help power the Microsoft Cloud and support the next-level digital transformation spurred by the widespread adoption of cloud computing and AI (artificial intelligence). The La Porte facility will join the company’s worldwide network of cloud computing infrastructure of more than 60 Azure regions, more than 300 data centers, over 280,000 kilometers of network, and over 190 edge sites.
To support its growth in Indiana, Microsoft plans to hire a variety of positions, including critical environment engineers, IT technicians and managers, inventory and asset technicians and managers, security personnel, and site managers. The timeline for construction and operations of the new datacenter is dependent on the design, planning and permitting process, which will start in cooperation with the City of La Porte later this year.
The city of La Porte approved additional incentives to support the project. NIPSCO offered additional incentives.
Tuesday’s news marks Indiana’s fourth strategically located major planned data center announcement in 2024. Together, these Fortune 500 businesses have made plans to invest $14.8 billion in cloud computing and storage infrastructure in communities and regions across Indiana, creating 1,500 new jobs in Fort Wayne, Jeffersonville, La Porte and New Carlisle.
Based on the company’s investment plans, the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) committed an investment in Microsoft in the form of a 35-year term data center sales tax credit for a minimum $1 billion in eligible capital investment. For each $1 billion of eligible investment made at the site within the first 15 years, the company will be eligible for tax exemptions for an additional 5-10-year period, up to a total term of 45 years. These incentives are performance-based, meaning the company is eligible to claim state benefits once investments are made.
