Biden Announces New $3.3 Billion Wisconsin AI Data Center...and It's the Ultimate Jab at Trump

That locale might ring a bell: It's the same site that was supposed to host a new Foxconn facility, a Taiwan-based electronics manufacturer that invested $10 billion in the region. Former president Donald Trump once lauded the project as "the eighth wonder of the world," but it ultimately failed when Foxconn ditched the deal.

The Biden administration estimates that the new center will create 2,300 union construction jobs, plus 2,000 full-time jobs at the center on Microsoft's payroll. The center is also anticipated to create pipelines to new industry in town, according to Jon Donenberg, the deputy director of the White House's National Economic Council.

"I think the investment is going to extend beyond the facility,"  Donenberg tells Inc, adding that there'll be "additional economic activity you get from new small businesses that are going to be servicing both the data center and the workers who are now working in this space."

Microsoft isn't stopping there. The tech giant also plans to build the nation's first "manufacturing-focused AI co-innovation lab," which will act as a conduit between Wisconsin small businesses and Microsoft developers to help entrepreneurs enhance their work. The lab, which will reside at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, appears concentrated in its efforts given that its goal is to work with 270 Wisconsin businesses by 2030. 

"There is a lot of promise in this technology for small, medium sized businesses to be able to streamline their operations and make their workforce more productive," Donenberg says. "That should allow us to both generate additional economic growth and also have better wages for workers."