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OpenAI Data Center Announced In Washtenaw County

  • Team MIRS
  • 5 hours ago
  • 2 min read

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 10/30/2025) A $500 billion six-site OpenAI Stargate data center project at a Washtenaw County site was dubbed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer Thursday as “the largest one-time investment in the state’s history.”


OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank announced the 700-acre site in Saline Township that would be one of the six sites that would be used to push artificial intelligence forward. The other four sites are in Texas, New Mexico, Wisconsin and Ohio. An OpenAI press release said the Michigan site would be developed by Related Digital.

scrabble letters spelling ChatGPT

“Today, we won the largest economic project in Michigan history,” Whitmer said.


Whitmer said one of the factors in the decision was the bipartisan legislation to lower the cost of building AI infrastructure in the state.


The Michigan Strategic Fund set the sales and use tax exemptions guidelines in August that could be used for data centers like Stargate to apply for tax exemptions.


OpenAI, the company that runs ChatGPT, Oracle, and SoftBank received more than 300 proposals from more than 30 states to build one of the data centers that would be used to “reindustrialize the country” with artificial intelligence.


“AI can only fulfill its promise if we build the computers to power it. That computer is the key to ensuring everyone can benefit from AI and to unlocking future breakthroughs,” said OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.


The OpenAI press release said the data center would be cooled with a closed-loop water system and would use energy from DTE with existing excess transmission capacity, which wouldn’t impact local power or utility rates.


Whitmer said the Michigan Department of Transportation found there would be minimal effects on local traffic and there would be about 450 permanent high-skill jobs at the site.


“I’m grateful to these cutting-edge companies for betting on Michigan, building on our work to compete for and win big projects in next-generation industries from cars and clean energy to semiconductors and batteries,” Whitmer said.


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