Vantage Data Centers Pours $15B Into Wisconsin AI Campus as It Builds Global Giga-Scale Footprint

On October 22, Vantage Data Centers was named the developer and operator of a multi-billion-dollar AI campus in Port Washington, Wisconsin, codenamed Lighthouse. The project, co-announced with Oracle and OpenAI as part of the broader Stargate build-out, represents a $15 billion-plus investment anchored by zero-emission energy resources and minimal water use. Oracle and OpenAI are identified as the primary customers. Multiple reports place Lighthouse as the Midwestern node of Oracle’s and OpenAI’s planned 4.5 GW Stargate expansion, with completion targeted for 2028.

Financial filings and industry reporting indicate Oracle is assembling a $38 billion debt package to fund additional data-center development in Texas and Wisconsin, consistent with rapid scaling at Lighthouse and other Oracle-aligned sites. While not specific to Vantage financing, the effort underscores the capital depth and velocity of the Oracle/Vantage build program.

Throughout 2025, Vantage has been scaling in three synchronized directions:

• Gigawatt-class U.S. “AI-factory” campuses in Texas and Wisconsin;
• Regional hyperscale expansions in Ohio, Nevada, and San Antonio; and
• Selective international growth across APAC, EMEA, and Canada, supported by new institutional capital.

Across these initiatives, Vantage emphasizes ultra-high-density rack designs (250 kW and above), liquid cooling as a baseline technology, large contiguous land holdings, and green-labeled financing linked to renewable power strategies.

The Lighthouse announcement further positions Vantage as a preferred build partner for cloud and AI majors pursuing gigawatt-scale campuses. It also strengthens Vantage’s alignment with Oracle Cloud’s fastest-growing footprint, where OpenAI workloads are expected to drive density and interconnect design.

The development simultaneously elevates Wisconsin as an emerging AI corridor, transforming the region from “Ohio-west” into a Midwest hub for sustainable compute growth.

What Is Vantage Working On?

Wisconsin Lighthouse: Midwest Mega-Campus for the AI Era

Vantage will develop and operate the Lighthouse campus in Port Washington, Wisconsin, its most ambitious U.S. project to date. Oracle serves as the anchor customer, with OpenAI explicitly named in the joint announcement and supporting media coverage.

The 672-acre site is planned for four hyperscale AI data centers totaling approximately 902 MW of critical IT load, with construction set to begin shortly and completion targeted for 2028.

Vantage has emphasized clean-energy sourcing, minimal water use, and a “water-positive” design, aligning the project with its broader sustainability framework. The development is projected to generate more than 4,000 construction jobs and over 1,000 permanent roles once fully operational.

Lighthouse is framed as gigawatt-class AI infrastructure, consistent with Vantage’s design language established at the Frontier project in Texas, where ultra-high-density racks (250 kW and above) and liquid cooling are standard.

Strategically, the Midwestern location complements Oracle’s Texas expansion, positioning Oracle Cloud Infrastructure to capture AI-intensive, latency-sensitive enterprise workloads across the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes corridor.

Dana Adams, president of North America for Vantage Data Centers, commented on building in Wisconsin, saying:

As demand for data centers expands beyond traditional hubs, the upper Midwest has become a critical and strategic market for Vantage Data Centers and our customers. Our investment in Wisconsin reflects the area’s strong foundation for digital growth to support sustainable AI innovation at scale. Vantage is committed to being a good neighbor and is prioritizing investing in sustainable energy, minimizing local impact and partnering closely with the community to be an economic driver for the state.

Texas Frontier: Scaling the Southern AI Factory

Announced in August 2025, the Frontier Campus represents a $25 billion, 1.4 GW development spread across roughly 1,200 acres in Shackelford County, Texas. Current plans call for ten AI-class data centers. JPMorgan and MUFG are reported to be leading nearly $22 billion in debt financing, with DigitalBridge and Silver Lake backing the equity portion.

While no formal construction timeline has been disclosed, Reuters reports that the first building is expected online in the second half of 2026, with full campus build-out continuing through 2028.

Frontier is designed as a central U.S. AI hub built around >250 kW per rack density and liquid-ready cooling infrastructure, targeting GPU-dense training clusters and high-efficiency power distribution.

As previously noted by Data Center Frontier, investment at this scale demonstrates lenders’ confidence in well-capitalized developers with visible anchor demand: a signal that the AI factory model is now bankable at the multi-gigawatt level.

Expanding in Ohio: Financing Growth Through Green Capital

In June 2025, Vantage secured $5 billion in green loan capacity, including $2.25 billion to fully fund its New Albany, Ohio (OH1) campus and expand its existing borrowing base.

The 192 MW development will comprise three 64 MW buildings, with first delivery expected in December 2025 and phased completion through 2028.

The OH1 campus is designed to come online as Vantage’s larger megasites ramp up, providing early capacity and regional proximity to major cloud and AI customers in the Columbus–New Albany corridor.

The site also offers logistical and workforce advantages within one of the fastest-growing data center regions in the U.S.

Beyond the U.S. - Vantage Expands Its Global Footprint

Moving North: Reinforcing Canada’s Renewable Advantage

In February 2025, Vantage announced a C$500 million investment to complete QC24, the fourth and final building at its Québec City campus, adding 32 MW of capacity by 2027.

The project strengthens Vantage’s Montreal–Québec platform and reinforces its renewable-heavy power profile, leveraging abundant hydropower to serve sustainability-driven customers.

APAC Expansion: Strategic Scale in Southeast Asia

In September 2025, Vantage unveiled a $1.6 billion APAC expansion, led by existing investors GIC (Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund) and ADIA (Abu Dhabi Investment Authority). The investment includes the acquisition of Yondr’s Johor, Malaysia campus at Sedenak Tech Park.

Currently delivering 72.5 MW, the Johor campus is planned to scale to 300 MW at full build-out, positioning it within one of Southeast Asia’s most active AI and cloud growth corridors.

Analysts note that the location’s connectivity to Singapore’s hyperscale market and favorable development economics give Vantage a strong competitive foothold across the region.

Italy: Expanding European Presence Under National Priority Status

Vantage is also adding a second Italian campus alongside its existing Milan site, totaling 32 MW across two facilities.

Phase One, scheduled for spring 2026, has been designated a nationally strategic project under Article 13 of Italy’s Law 104/2023, tied to approximately €4 billion in total investment and up to 4,000 construction jobs over eight years.

Italy’s fiber and internet exchange (IX) proximity to Central and Southern Europe, combined with strong renewable integration potential, make it a key pillar in Vantage’s European AI data center strategy, balancing sustainability, latency, and cost-effectiveness.

Vantage Leads With a Sustainability-First Design Philosophy

Vantage continues to foreground sustainability as a differentiator in its campus development strategy, aiming to pre-empt potential community or regulatory resistance.

The company emphasizes air-cooled designs engineered to make water usage effectiveness (WUE) largely irrelevant, while its new-generation projects are branded as “water-positive.” This approach builds a counter-narrative to the water-intensive evaporative cooling systems still common in large-scale data centers.

These distinctions are becoming increasingly critical in regions like the Midwest, where public scrutiny of industrial water use has grown alongside the surge in AI-driven infrastructure projects.

At the same time, the Lighthouse campus is designed to operate on zero-emission energy resources, aligning with both customer decarbonization goals and the financing incentives tied to green-labeled debt, a structure Vantage has already used successfully for its Ohio and North America platforms.

From Large to Giga-Scale: A Repositioning for the AI Factory Era

Vantage is pivoting from “large” to giga-scale, with its Frontier (Texas) and Lighthouse (Wisconsin) projects effectively bracketing the United States, north to south, as AI-first megacampuses.

The Ohio development delivers near-term capacity and power availability, while the APAC expansion adds platform weight and geographic diversity. Meanwhile, Italy’s nationally recognized data center program consolidates momentum across EMEA under favorable policy conditions.

The Oracle–OpenAI alliance at Lighthouse not only anchors demand but also reinforces a sustainability-led narrative that aligns with the financial, regulatory, and permitting realities of hyperscale AI infrastructure.

With this synchronized global strategy, Vantage positions itself among the few developers capable of repeatedly delivering 500 MW-and-larger campuses across multiple continents: a capability that is quickly becoming a core requirement of the emerging AI factory era.

At Data Center Frontier, we talk the industry talk and walk the industry walk. In that spirit, DCF Staff members may occasionally use AI tools to assist with content. Elements of this article were created with help from OpenAI's GPT5.

Keep pace with the fast-moving world of data centers and cloud computing by connecting with Data Center Frontier on LinkedIn, following us on X/Twitter and Facebook, as well as on BlueSky, and signing up for our weekly newsletters using the form below.