Pretty wild stuff going down with Microsoft snatching up huge chunks of farmland out in Wisconsin lately! They just shelled out $76 million for more acres, getting ready to build another massive data center campus out that way. This comes right on the heels of them grabbing Activision Blizzard for a casual $68.7 billion last fall – so yeah, Microsoft is going hog wild right now!
Funny enough, sounds like Foxconn was gunning for this same land too. But the owners ultimately went with Microsoft’s monster offer instead. Can’t blame ’em I guess! Now Foxconn already said back in 2017 they’d build their first US factory in Wisconsin with 13,000 jobs…obviously that fizzled out big time if they’re still land shopping there.
Anyways, Microsoft’s recent buys in Mount Pleasant tally over $99 million now for nearly 650 acres total. Even picked up a pumpkin farm! But get this – while the 200 or so jobs they’re promising sounds nice, it’s peanuts next to what Foxconn originally pitched.
Strategically though, the spot gives Microsoft a sweet central hub to keep expanding its cloud services from. With the big push into cloud gaming and Game Pass subscriptions, they’re less about selling consoles now and more about streaming to all types of devices.
