Microsoft says it delays or interrupts some AI data center projects including $ 1B plan for Ohio

AP Technology Writer (AP) – Microsoft said it is a ‘delay or break’ some of its data center construction, including a $ 1 billion project in Ohio, the latest sign that the demand for artificial intelligence technology that drives a massive infrastructure expansion may not need as many powerful computers as expected. The technical giant confirmed this week that it stops early phase projects on rural land which he owns in the Licking County in Central-Ohio, outside Columbus, and that he will discuss two of the three areas for agricultural land. “The demand for our cloud and AI services has grown more than we could ever expect and to meet this opportunity, we began to carry out the greatest and most ambitious infrastructure scale project in our history,” said Noelle Walsh, the president of Microsoft’s cloud operations, in a post on LinkedIn. Walsh said: “Any important new effort on this size and scale requires agility and refinement as we learn and grow with our clients. What it means is that we delay or interrupt some early phase projects.” Microsoft did not say on Wednesday what other projects it delayed outside Ohio, but at the end of December it revealed that it interrupted the later phases of a large data center project in Wisconsin. Earlier this year, analysts with TD Cowen reported that Microsoft is also scaling down some of its international data center expansion and some leases in the US for the use of data centers operated by other businesses. Other analysts have for months tied up some of the changes to a shift in Microsoft’s close relationship with his business partner Openai, Chatgpt manufacturer. “Openai moved in One Direction” by prioritizing the development of ever more advanced AI systems, which needs large computer resources to train on data data, while “Microsoft may not have moved the same direction,” says Craig Ellis, director of research at B. Riley Securities. The two companies announced on January 21 that they are changing the agreement that Microsoft has made the exclusive provider of Openai’s computer power, enabling the smaller business to build its own capacity, “mainly for research and training of models.” It was the same day that the newly affected President Donald Trump’s partnership with Oracle and Softbank appointed to promise $ 500 billion to new AI infrastructure in the US, starting with a data center in Texas. Microsoft has long built data centers around the world to operate its cloud computing services. The generative AI boom has accelerated the demand for such facilities, both to train new AI systems and to keep them going while millions of people start using chatbots and other AI tools at work and at home. The computer it takes to manage AI tools is expensive and needs a large amount of electricity -so much that Trump has cited AI needs this week as part of the justification for using its emergency authorities to promote the US coal industry, a reliable but polluting energy source. Technical companies also tried to utilize nuclear power, including a proposed revival of Microsoft-backed revival of the Shuttered Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania, which would feed an electricity network that produces data centers in Ohio, as well as Virginia, the largest data center for the country. Microsoft said it still intends to spend more than $ 80 billion worldwide to expand its AI infrastructure in this financial year, which ends in June and has doubled its data center capacity for the past three years. “Although we can strategically tackle our plans, we will continue to grow strongly and allocate investments that are in line with business priorities and customer demand,” Walsh said. Nevertheless, the Ohio break was a disappointment for local officials. Licking County also attracted investments in the Data Center of Microsoft opponents Google and Meta platforms and a very expected semiconductor factory of Intel, although in February the struggling chipmaker pushed back the expected completion date for the first phase of the project to 2030.