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Opinion | Building AI infrastructure the Michigan way
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Michigan has long been a place where major infrastructure investments have spurred economic growth, but past technological shifts left too many communities behind. The data center we’re building in Saline Township offers a rare opportunity to chart a new path, one that brings union jobs and investment without pushing electricity bills higher.
It’s critically important to get that balance right. Electricity is something families depend on every month, and as demand for AI grows, communities want to know that new infrastructure won’t come at the expense of their household budgets. That’s why we are building the Saline Township project in a way that brings clear economic benefits while limiting the burden on local residents and small business owners.
On April 20, we worked with our partners at Related Digital and Walbridge to make that vision a reality through a new agreement with North America’s Building Trades Unions. Under the agreement, the Saline Township campus will be built by 2,500 highly skilled union tradespeople and apprentices, helping the economic opportunity created by AI infrastructure reach more Michigan workers and families.
We want to explain our broader approach because there’s an active debate in Michigan about how projects like the Saline Township site — a key part of Stargate, our effort to build state-of-the-art AI infrastructure in states across the country — should move forward. Those decisions will help shape Michigan’s ability to compete for the jobs, investment, and broader economic growth that projects like this can bring.
The upside is clear. Beyond the new jobs, the Saline Township site will also generate new local revenue to support schools and essential services like police, fire departments, and other first responders. It will be AI infrastructure by Michigan, in Michigan and for Michigan.
When we announced the site late last year, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer called it “the largest economic project in Michigan history” and highlighted the jobs it will bring to the state, the opportunity it will create, and the ways it will help Michigan stay at the forefront of advanced manufacturing and technology.
She also pointed to something equally important: this project is being built to fit Michigan, not just power AI — with a design that minimizes water use, preserves open land, and limits strain on local infrastructure.
The Saline Township site will maintain the area’s small-town feel through thoughtful landscaping, setting the data center back from nearby roads, and ensuring that half of the land at the site remains farmland and woods. We are also working to reduce noise and traffic near the site.
Just as importantly, we’re taking steps to ensure the Michigan site doesn’t push local electricity bills up. The Saline Township site will be powered using existing resources supplemented by new, project-funded battery storage. Any needed upgrades will be funded by the project itself rather than existing customers.
That’s part of our broader commitment to cover costs associated with our Stargate sites. Last month, OpenAI Chief Operating Officer Brad Lightcap joined President Trump at the White House to sign the administration’s new Ratepayer Protection Pledge, designed to ensure American consumers aren’t hit with higher bills because of the energy, water and other infrastructure needed to power data centers.
Beyond energy, the Saline Township site is designed to minimize water use through a closed-loop cooling system that recirculates water rather than evaporating it. The system is initially filled with roughly the amount of water in a few Olympic-size swimming pools; after that, it runs largely on the same supply, with only modest top-offs for maintenance. Our highly skilled onsite workforce will also require a modest amount of water to provide for the site’s restrooms and kitchens.
Details like these matter if we’re going to build AI infrastructure at the pace this moment demands. That urgency reflects a simple reality: the benefits of AI, and the demand for it, continue to grow. More than 900 million people around the world use ChatGPT every week to learn, teach, and do their jobs more efficiently. AI is delivering tangible gains in people’s daily lives, especially in improvements to health, wellness and scientific discovery.
Bringing AI’s benefits to more people requires more infrastructure, along with new ways to generate and manage the power the data centers need. We’re mindful of the need to build those projects with input from local communities, and we’re committed to being good neighbors over the long term.
History gives us clear reasons for optimism. From serving as the nation’s “Arsenal of Democracy” during World War II to building the modern auto industry, Michigan has repeatedly turned large-scale projects into new opportunities for communities across the state. AI infrastructure can be the next chapter in that story, bringing jobs and investment to the state without raising costs for the families who live there. Now it’s time to build.
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