Vantage Data Centers' $15 billion hyperscale AI facility under construction in Port Washington is expected to bring 1,000 jobs.
Vantage North America President Dana Adams said the facility will support Oracle and its end user, OpenAI, running AI workloads out of the building.
"This is a data center that's planned to support Oracle and their end user OpenAI," Adams said.
Adams pushed back on a common perception about data centers.
"The biggest misconception, well, first of all, that these are buildings void of life, right, that these are just servers and that there are no people involved in the actual running of this equipment. That is not true," Adams said.
Vantage currently employs about 130 workers at a campus location in Virginia, with another 300 customers and vendors in office spaces at that site. The company expects a combined 1,000 employees with its two biggest customers once the Port Washington facility opens.
Watch: DraftWill Vantage live up to jobs expectations when AI facility opens in Port Washington?
"Both of us will have engineers, we'll have mechanical and electrical operators, we'll have technicians, we'll have IT network specialists, security specialists, -- so on and so forth manning that facility," Adams said.
Adams said the local jobs will come from hiring local people across a range of roles for the 24/7 facility.
Beyond jobs, Vantage points to its tax record in Virginia as a preview of what Ozaukee County can expect. The company has paid $65 million in property taxes in Virginia since 2019.
"That's a lot of teacher salaries. That's a lot of new fire trucks, community centers, road improvements, etc.," Adams said.
Vantage will pay property taxes in Port Washington over the next 20 years through a Tax Incremental District to cover $458 million in infrastructure costs for the project. Adams said the tax revenue will begin flowing predominantly when construction is complete.
"Absolutely, it will start predominantly when the construction is complete," Adams said.
Vantage and Open are also key sponsors for the first time this year at the Ozaukee County Fair
Vantage and facility operators Oracle and OpenAI are already hosting job fairs in the area to fill those 1,000 positions.
The project is already generating optimism at nearby Concordia University in Mequon, where students and faculty are watching the development closely.
"It's a very inspiring feeling to know the future is physically here now," Concordia sophomore Evan Delvaux said.
Delvaux said the proximity of the facility could shape the career paths of students at the school.
"It also then plants the seed of interest, so we can inspire many amazing people at this college to be more oriented toward technology and more innovation," Delvaux said.
"Which is very encouraging for me and my career, and then the careers of my peers as well," Delvaux said.
Concordia graduate and entrepreneur Jonathan Schotte said the facility signals a shift in what kinds of opportunities will be available locally.
"People are used to a certain opportunity. New, unique opportunities are going to arise," Schotte said.
Concordia Computer Science Chair Prof. Mike Litman said the pace of AI development is unlike anything he has seen before.
"I mean, we were already going 500 miles an hour. Now we're going 1,500 miles an hour," Litman said.
Litman said the technology's impact will be sweeping.
"My opinion is that it's going to be bigger than the internet. This is huge. This is going to change how we all live our lives. It's gonna create a bunch of new jobs. It's going to eliminate a whole bunch of old jobs," Litman said.
Litman said preparing students to use AI responsibly is central to the university's mission.
"We have to become ethical and moral wielders of these tools, because these tools are not going to have morality of their own," Litman said.
To that end, Concordia is adding new majors this fall and opening a new AI lab where students can develop skills using the latest tools. Litman said the university's location gives it a unique advantage.
"Concordia is uniquely located to have a close relationship with them, and administration is working hard to create those things," Litman said.
The goal is to create internship and job pipelines that keep Wisconsin graduates in the state rather than relocating to pursue tech careers elsewhere.
This story was reported on-air by Charles Benson and Alex Gaul and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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