Microsoft Lyle Creek (Catawba County) data center, Conover, North Carolina

Microsoft's Lyle Creek data center campus on Highway 16 in Conover, Catawba County, is under construction, and in September 2026 Microsoft said the first building's exterior was in its final stages. Mechanical and electrical work on that building has begun, and work is starting on other building areas for later phases. Lyle Creek is one of four data centers Microsoft agreed in November 2022 to build in Catawba County, investing at least $1 billion over 10 years with Conover, Hickory, Maiden and the county's economic development corporation.

Microsoft began building at the 220-acre site, known as Project Agate, in March 2024, first with contractor Morgan Corp, which excavated and crushed rock, at times with controlled blasting in the early afternoon. By February 2026 Whiting-Turner had taken over as general contractor and began site preparation once weather allowed, with foundation work starting in mid-March. By May 2026 underground work and foundations were complete on several buildings and steel had started going up; construction runs Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Conover has been under Stage 2 mandatory water restrictions since May 1, 2026, and the current drought "brings local water capacity into sharp focus and raises legitimate questions about what industries local leaders are trying to attract," the county, its towns and the economic development corporation said in a joint statement on June 23, 2026. The City of Hickory supplies water to the county's data center sites, and Microsoft's are expected to rely mainly on other cooling methods and, once running fully, to use about 1% of Hickory's daily water production.

Microsoft has committed to "replenish more water than it withdraws in the communities where it operates," the statement said, and its Catawba County sites will pay property taxes on the full value of their buildings, equipment and infrastructure under incentive agreements now being amended to reflect that. Scott Millar, president of the county's economic development corporation, said Catawba is not chasing more data center investment: "We're not actively chasing that sector for new investment... We're going to go off and pursue other sectors."

Lyle Creek is not the county's only site; Microsoft broke ground in 2024 on its Boyd Farms campus in Maiden, about 10 miles south, where Apple opened North America's first Apple data center more than a decade ago. The four data centers cost Microsoft a combined $909 million according to construction permits, and the county says growth will be managed through local permitting. The amended incentive agreement reflecting Microsoft's higher property-tax commitment is still being finalized.