Meta Signs Pre-development Agreement for Data Center in Beloit, Wisconsin

Meta Platforms has reportedly signed a pre-development agreement with the Town of Beloit for a potential data center project in southern Wisconsin. According to the Beloit Daily News, the facility could be built on a 430-acre site located between Town Line Road, South Prairie Avenue, and East Philhower Road.

The pre-development agreement does not guarantee that a data center will be developed on the site, but protects the town against losing money should the project - dubbed Project Cornmaze - not proceed.

Writing to the Beloit Daily News, town administrator John Malizio said: "To date, the town, as it would with any proposed development project, has engaged in very preliminary discussions with the property owners, neighboring municipalities, and Cambrin LLC regarding the Town’s processes, regulations, and timing."

"Given the substantial due diligence that will likely be involved, and expenses relating thereto, the Town did enter into a pre-development agreement with Cambrin LLC to ensure that the Town’s costs and expenses could be recovered. No applications, site plans, or proposals have been submitted to Town staff or elected officials.”

Elsewhere in Wisconsin, Meta is developing a $1 billion data center campus in Beaver Dam. The project will span more than 700,000 sq ft (65,000 sqm), be optimized for AI workloads, and is expected to break ground in late 2025. New details released this week indicate the campus will have a 220MW power draw under a contract with Alliant Energy.

Meta currently operates or is developing around 30 data center campuses worldwide. The company recently said it plans to invest $600 billion in expanding its data center footprint. CEO Mark Zuckerberg noted in July that Meta is building “several multi-gigawatt clusters,” including at its existing New Albany, Ohio campus and a planned site in Louisiana known as Hyperion.