Microsoft hired Ames Construction as the general contractor for the first project on the New Albany site, which was planned as a $420-million, 245,000-sq-ft data center on 197 acres. Construction was slated to start this year with completion in 2027. Ames had started clearing the property in November and December, according to a community update published by Microsoft.

Plans for the other sites in Hebron and Heath were less advanced and contractors had not been announced.

“After careful consideration, we will not be moving forward at this time with our plans to build data centers at the Licking County sites,” Microsoft said in a statement. “We will continue to evaluate these sites in line with our investment strategy.”

The company owns all three sites. It said that two of them—in Hebron and Heath—will be used for agriculture.

“We are taking the appropriate steps to ensure the land at two of our sites can be used for farming and are following through with our development agreements to fund roadway and utility upgrades,” the company said. 

Whether the reasons behind the pause are related to the economy, electrical power needs or an overabundance of data centers, Noelle Walsh, president, Microsoft Cloud Operations + Innovation, said in a LinkedIn post that planning for data centers is done years in advance and that adjustments to early-stage projects in rapidly growing industries is common. 

“By nature, any significant new endeavor at this size and scale requires agility and refinement as we learn and grow with our customers,” she said. “What this means is that we are slowing or pausing some early-stage projects.” 

Microsoft said its plan to invest $80 billion to build out AI-enabled data centers around the world in fiscal 2025 is still on track.  

“These investments are informed by near-term and long-term demand signals,” she said. 

Responding to the pause, Heath Mayor Mark Johns told a local TV station that the village has spent 15 years building an industrial corridor in the community, and does not have all of their eggs in one basket. 

"You're not out what you didn't have," he said. "What we do have is a commitment to finance some very important infrastructure projects in the community." 

Licking County Commissioner Tim Bubb said Microsoft's answer to questions about why the data centers are paused were "vague [and included] company reevaluating the need for expansion of data storage capacity. Pausing to reevaluate the market. Now not ready to spend on construction of new facilities." 

Despite the pause, the company’s global footprint is expanding across more than 60 regions and more than 350 data centers worldwide, Walsh said. 

“While we may strategically pace our plans, we will continue to grow strongly and allocate investments that stay aligned with business priorities and customer demand,” she added. 

Bloomberg News reports that Microsoft has recently “halted talks for, or delayed development of sites in Indonesia, the UK, Australia, Illinois, North Dakota and Wisconsin.”