Microsoft is turning Foxconn’s empty buildings into the ‘world’s most powerful’ AI data center

Today Microsoft announced its plans to bring a Fairwater AI information center, which it claims is the “world’s astir powerful,” online successful aboriginal 2026. The $3.3 cardinal construction successful Wisconsin is housed astatine the tract of Foxconn’ s failed LCD factory which was announced successful 2017, but by the extremity of 2018 was already being called a “boondoggle.” 

The caller information halfway is monolithic astatine 1.2 cardinal quadrate feet dispersed implicit 3 buildings connected 315 acres of land. Under those roofs are “hundreds of thousands” of Nvidia’s GB200 GPUs, “connected by capable fibre to ellipse the Earth 4.5 times,” according to Satya Nadella. Microsoft claims this clump of interconnected GPUs is ten-times much almighty than the fastest ace machine and volition greatly accelerate its AI grooming efforts. The institution says that aggregate different Fairwater datacenters are nether operation crossed the US.

Microsoft is besides touting its supposedly environmentally affable design which minimizes h2o discarded done a closed loop cooling strategy — it lone needs to beryllium filled erstwhile and past it’s sealed, eliminating evaporation. Microsoft’s vice seat and president focused heavy connected the company’s sustainability efforts erstwhile announcing the project, which makes consciousness fixed AI’s estimation for absolutely massive energy consumption.