WISCONSIN RAPIDS, WI (WSAU) — It takes a lot of power to run an AI data center.
And that’s exactly what the City of Wisconsin Rapids has thanks to its history as a mill town, according to Mayor Matt Zacher. “[If you go into the mill] and see the size of the machines that were running, what it took to power those things up and keep them running 24/7 is just phenomenal. So the amount of infrastructure that is here is great.”
That’s thanks to the Consolidated Water Power Company and the city’s own WWLC, who didn’t hesitate to provide Digital Power Optimization with assurances that their needs for the project will be met.
“They said, without batting an eyelash, that if we need more power we can build it. That’s how this works, they have the connections to be able to build that because they already know how to do that. It’s a beautiful thing for us,” said Zacher
RELATED: AI Computing Center Coming to Wisconsin Rapids
The DPO center will go on five acres of land across the highway from the former Mill building, which is being torn down for redevelopment. Zacher says the center won’t take up the entire parcel, leaving room for growth or other new development, preferably in a variety of sectors. “We’ve learned some tough lessons in terms of [relying] on one big business having that kind of control over your economy, then suddenly [it’s declining]. So if we can diversify at this time, which is happening, that’s only going to put us in a much stronger economic position now and in the future.”
The $200 million high-performance center is expected to be completed in 2026. Zacher says it may create up to 20 full-time jobs, meaning much of the economic benefit will come from construction.
News of DPO’s commitment to Wisconsin Rapids came at the same time that Microsoft announced plans for a new data center in Kenosha. Big time AI projects are also in the works near Racine and Sheboygan.
Other topics Zacher discussed with WSAU’s Mike Leischner include:
Start of video- How plans for the AI data center came about
12:08- Public Works update
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