- The small farming community of Saline Township is set to host Michigan’s first hyperscale data center, a hulking facility made up of three buildings the size of 28 football fields.
- The deal shocked residents with its speed, dividing a community where life has long revolved around corn and soybeans
- It’s a debate set to play out in towns across Michigan as the tech industry makes rapid inroads
SALINE TOWNSHIP — Long defined by corn and soybeans, this farming community south of Ann Arbor could soon be transformed by Big Tech.
High-voltage power lines have attracted OpenAI, Oracle and Related Digital to a plot of farmland just off the highway, where, if all goes according to plan, Michigan’s first hyperscale data center will open in 2027.
Three buildings with a combined size of 28 football fields will occupy 250 acres, drawing more electricity than a million homes to power computer servers that train artificial intelligence models used in everything from online banking to internet search engines…