RACINE COUNTY — Racine County will soon look forward to a major Microsoft development after the County Board unanimously approved the tech giant’s expansion proposal Tuesday night. The expansion means an additional $1.4B dollar investment by Microsoft to buy hundreds more acres, on top of its current $1B investment into multiple data centers.
It also means educational benefits and a close partnership with local technical colleges in the region.
Dr. Ritu Raju, the president and CEO of Gateway Technical College in Racine County was one of many community members applauding the official passage of Microsoft’s expansion.
Raju joined the County Board's meeting on Tuesday to speak in favor of Microsoft's multi-billion, thousand acre data center proposal in Mount Pleasant.
Among economic development and job growth, the tech giant has cited a budding partnership with Gateway with hopes of building a data center prototype on one of their campuses, creating an apprenticeship program and assisting in the creation of a guided curriculum.
The team at Gateway said they are already in works to build classes at the college that prep students for exactly what Microsoft is looking for post-grad.
“The department chairs and the dean are working with their team to make sure that we're addressing the competencies and skill sets that students will need to be able to successfully work at Microsoft,” said Raju.
Microsoft doesn't have the numbers for just how many jobs will be added to the state but they tell us in a statement:
"We believe there is great opportunity for Microsoft's cloud services to support local business growth and innovation in Wisconsin."
Raju agrees the impact on future generations of students can't be overstated.
“A technical college plays a very important role as an economic catalyst for our region and I'm really honored and privileged that Gateway has the opportunity to be part of this growth.”
Now that the expansion deal has passed the county board the land will be signed over to Microsoft by the end of the year.
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