Microsoft filed for state review on October 20 of a three-building data center campus in Rome, Georgia, with 422MW of planned capacity. The Development of Regional Impact application covers 349 acres at 0 Huffaker Road and 1,659,000 square feet of floor space. Microsoft owns the land, bought in 2023 under the name Project Firecracker, and would develop and operate the campus.
Data Center Dynamics reports a built-out project value of $360 million and $35 million in annual local tax revenue, with com
Microsoft community affairs manager Paul Englis presenting the Huffaker Road campus plans to the Rome-Floyd County Development Authority.pletion by 2032 and 150 employees once operational. Rome's Druck newsletter, working from the same filing, lists a $340 million project cost and $26 million in annual tax revenue. The two accounts also differ on water: Data Center Dynamics cites a maximum of 13,500 gallons per day, while Druck reports a daily demand of 135,000 gallons from Floyd County Water, drawn from Old Mill Spring and groundwater.
Georgia Power supplies the 422MW, Data Center Dynamics reports. The application states that existing electrical transmission and distribution infrastructure is sufficient to serve the project, and lists an on-site substation, diesel-only backup generators and a transmission line extension. Druck also reports estimated daily sewage production of 10,200 gallons and 456 tons of solid waste a year at peak.
Microsoft announced the Huffaker Road purchase in October 2023 and pledged a $1 billion investment, when the Rome-Floyd County Development Authority approved industrial revenue bonds with a 12-year partial tax abatement on buildings and a nine-year abatement on equipment. Property taxes and Floyd County school taxes on the land remain payable, the Rome News-Tribune reported. "Ratepayers and taxpayers should not foot the bill for this project," said Paul Englis, a Microsoft community affairs manager, at the announcement.
Georgia added data centers to the Development of Regional Impact process as "technological facilities" in November 2025, the Georgia Recorder reported. Floyd County approved an 80-day moratorium on new data center projects in June 2026 and an ordinance on August 25 that limits data centers to heavy industrial zoning and requires a power, water and broadband impact study, AllOnGeorgia reported. A month before the Rome filing, Microsoft filed for ATL50, a two-building campus of 910,000 square feet on 88 acres in Union City.
Baxtel tracks 255 data center facilities in the Atlanta market, where Microsoft Azure and QTS Data Centers are the leading providers with 10 sites each and the largest facility is Microsoft's Fairwater 2 Bldg1 at 300MW. Baxtel lists the Rome site at 347 acres, with 50MW recorded in construction and another 50MW planned.
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