As the list of counties and municipalities pausing development on data centers grows in North Carolina, Microsoft is aiming to smooth the path to getting one built in Person County.
The company hosted a meeting with neighbors in the county on Tuesday. Neighbors were asked to share their concerns and questions about the planned Microsoft Mega Park in the Woodsdale Township on the Virginia border.
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While the company shared few details about the meeting ahead of time, Microsoft in the past said it plans to “pay its own way” to ensure its data center development doesn’t increase electricity prices. Microsoft is also expected to invest in local information technology training and nonprofits, the county said.
Neighbors raised a long list of concerns, including how hard it was to find out about the meeting.
“Listening to the community chatter over the last year, there hasn’t been any information available. So I think folks were eager to get more information,” said one Person County resident, Janna Kisner.
Other residents raised concerns tied to energy or water usage, or asked how much noise the facility would likely make.
Even local leaders, like Roxboro City Councilor Kendra Coggins, showed up, hoping for some clarity.
“It feels like we got a lot of canned responses, but I’m appreciative that Microsoft came out,” said Coggins, who said her primary concerns are tied to how much water the facility would pull from the city of Roxboro.
In a statement, a Microsoft spokesperson said in part, “We are grateful for opportunities like tonight to engage with residents. We are focused on making sure our presence adds value.”
Microsoft has spent billions of dollars on data centers and other infrastructure required to develop artificial intelligence technology. Microsoft President Brad Smith has been meeting with federal lawmakers this year to examine ways for industry, not taxpayers, to pay the full costs of data centers.
Earlier this year, Microsoft said it was moving forward with developing the 1,385-acre Person County mega site, which the Redmond, Washington-based company paid $28.85 million for in 2024.
On a special webpage for the project, Microsoft also points to technology the company says the future Person County data center will use to help reduce water usage, and that Microsoft will take steps to limit the impact of the data center on nearby resident's power bills.
Not everyone is on board.
“I think they all sound good. It would be nice if they do follow that. But I do have concerns about if they are going to,” said Olive Burress with the Sierra Club of NC, who pointed out that, for now, all of Microsoft’s commitments are voluntary.
The meeting comes as the pushback against tech companies looking to build data centers in the state grows. An Elon University poll released this spring found just 24% of North Carolinians support a data center being built in their community.
Across central North Carolina, several counties and municipalities have passed moratoriums on planning and development of data centers,
Proposals for hyperscale data centers built to support artificial intelligence and cloud computing are driving unprecedented demand for electricity and water. That surge is reshaping long-term energy planning, raising new questions about who bears the environmental and financial costs of keeping the grid running.
In September, Person County residents asked for transparency from Microsoft on the community impact, economic benefits and environmental effects on the planned megasite. The company said it will not use traditional water intensive cooling methods, but clean-water advocates remain skeptical about the plan.