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Microsoft is ramping up its investment in La Porte, Indiana, with an expansion of its data center project. The tech giant announced its intentions to rezone additional property adjacent to its current site during a community meeting held on April 21 at the La Porte Civic Center.
The company has been working on developing a 245,000-square-foot data center on 489 acres at the Radius Industrial Park since at least 2024, as part of a $1 billion investment in Northwest Indiana. According to a presentation shared at the meeting, Microsoft stated it is "seeking approval to rezone adjacent property to [its] site", which would allow for further development in the future.
The first phase of the La Porte project includes six data centers and a substation on the initial plot of land. However, a draft conceptual site plan revealed during the meeting shows that Microsoft now envisions a larger campus comprising 17 buildings on an expanded site located between East 250 South, East State Road 4, and Stevens Road in La Porte. It remains unclear how many of the new buildings will serve as data centers.
Site preparation for the La Porte project began in March 2026 and is slated to continue throughout the summer. Construction on the first three buildings will proceed through the end of 2027, with the data centers expected to be operational by 2029.
Microsoft has also reiterated its pledge to build the La Porte data center campus in line with its recently launched "Community-First AI Infrastructure" initiative. This program was introduced earlier this year to address concerns about rising power costs and the impact of large-scale developments on local resources.
Microsoft's La Porte project is part of a broader wave of data center development in Indiana. In addition to its work in La Porte, Microsoft purchased 939 acres in Mishawaka for a separate data center project and sought to expand by acquiring another 40 acres in April 2025.
Tech giants like Google, Amazon Web Services, and Meta are also increasing their presence in the state. For example, Google recently took over the Project Maize data center campus in nearby Michigan City, while Amazon Web Services announced a $15 billion investment in data centers and AI infrastructure in Northern Indiana in November 2025.
Indiana's growing reputation as a data center hub has also attracted companies like US Signals, DataBank, Netrality, and Digital Crossroads, all of which have ongoing projects across the state.
As Microsoft progresses with its La Porte expansions, the region continues to position itself as a key location for data center development in the United States.
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