Microsoft La Porte data center, La Porte, Indiana

Microsoft broke ground on June 17, 2026, on its data center campus off Boyd Boulevard on the south side of La Porte, in LaPorte County, Indiana, a $1 billion project on 489 acres. Phase one is six buildings, the first due by spring 2029 and a third by winter 2029, and after the city annexed more land for the project in spring 2026, the campus could grow to 17 buildings. "Soon you'll see cranes here, you'll see construction here and you'll see building go up fast," said Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith.

Microsoft first announced the project in June 2024; the original site is in the Radius Industrial Park, and Microsoft promised about 200 jobs. Smith said the company would not seek local property tax breaks: "Don't give us a reduction in the local property taxes; charge us what we owe." The city has committed 15 percent of the data center's revenue to the LaPorte Community School Corporation. Smith said Microsoft would cover its share of electricity and water costs: "We won't use local communities water anymore than say a local restaurant does on an annual basis."

The expansion drew opposition: at an April 13, 2026 hearing on annexing land in Pleasant Township, south of Boyd Boulevard between County Road 250 South and State Road 2, council chambers overflowed as union workers backed the plan and neighbors objected. "I put 30 years in here and bought properties, and I didn't buy them to be around a data center," one resident said. LaPorte County Commissioner Joe Haney said the county was "kind of in the dark" without the city sharing information.

At a Microsoft information session later in April, which hundreds attended, the company's Jonathan Noble was cautious about electricity bills: "What we can say is that it is not our intent for our development to have any impact on that." "We're awfully close and we were never given an opportunity to talk about it before it was already a done deal," said LaPorte County resident Lary Campbell.

The LaPorte City Council voted unanimously on May 18, 2026, to allow a second campus, running along Highway 35 south to County Road 250. Haney said the county was working to put Microsoft's promises on berms, landscaping and lighting into a formal document, and the third phase-one building still needs permit approval.