Microsoft to build a $1.1 billion data center in Des Moines

Microsoft is building even bigger in Iowa. The company today unveiled plans to invest a whopping $1.1 billion in a new data center campus in West Des Moines, where it already operates a large server farm. The project will be one of the largest in the history of the data center industry, with plans calling for 1.2 million square feet of facilities across a 154-acre property. The announcement ends the suspense about the identity of the mystery company behind Project Alluvion. 

Microsoft is the company behind a $1.13 billion data center known as “Project Alluvion,” taking shape in West Des Moines, Iowa. The Quad City Times and The Des Moines Register report that construction will begin this Spring, with the announcement made Friday by Gov. Terry Branstad and Iowa economic development officials. “It’s now official, Microsoft is the new million dollar — billion dollar — economic development project,” said Gov. Branstad in welcoming the “household name” to Iowa. Iowa is already the site of one Microsoft facility, but with the new facility it will be among the biggest capital outlays by an outside company in the state. Facebook also operates a data center in Iowa. The new 1.16 million square foot project, spanning some 154 acres on the Willows Creek Golf Course, will bring 84 jobs to the region.