University of Michigan Affirms $1.2 Billion Ypsilanti Data Center as Township Vows Fight
Updated
Updated · bridgemi.com · Aug 12
University of Michigan Affirms $1.2 Billion Ypsilanti Data Center as Township Vows Fight
2 articles · Updated · bridgemi.com · Aug 12
Summary
University of Michigan said Tuesday it will build the $1.2 billion computing center on 144 acres off Textile Road near the Huron River, despite sustained opposition from Ypsilanti Township officials.
The university said the site offers power, water and buildable land for a research facility serving U-M and Los Alamos National Laboratory, backed by a $100 million state grant and pitched as boosting AI, biomedical and national-security research.
Ypsilanti leaders called the decision a "call to action," saying they learned by text just before the announcement and will keep fighting a project they say lacks transparency and unfairly burdens a poorer community of 54,000.
U-M says the classified project could create 200 jobs averaging $200,000 a year and would not store or handle nuclear materials, but local officials and U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell say residents' questions remain unanswered.
The project, first unveiled in December 2024, is being framed as a computing center rather than a hyperscale data center as Michigan faces widening backlash over roughly two dozen proposed data-center developments.