Microsoft buys 600 acres in Woodward, Iowa for data center

Microsoft has acquired 600 acres of land in Woodward, Iowa, about 30 miles northwest of Des Moines, for a potential data center campus. The sale closed on October 8 and was disclosed at a meeting with residents on October 12. Design is expected to take two to three years, with the first building taking around two years to complete; the site will serve cloud and storage workloads, not AI training.

• The site spans 600 acres between Highway 141 and Seminole Avenue
• The sale closed on October 8 and was revealed on October 12
• Campus design will take 2–3 years; first building about two years
• The data center will serve cloud and storage, not AI training