Microsoft is planning a five-building data center campus on land it acquired outside Columbus, Ohio, earlier this year.

As reported by the Newark Advocate, Microsoft said at a recent open house meeting that works on the Heath development will likely begin in summer 2025, with the first of five data center buildings completed in early 2028.

Microsoft acquired around 219 acres west of Thornwood Drive and south of Hallie Lane in Heath, Licking County, in May.

As previously reported, Microsoft is also developing a campus in Hebron, some five miles south of Heath.

There, the company is reportedly aiming to develop six buildings on a site totaling 215 acres, with construction starting in 2026. Hebron Mayor Valerie Mockus said a development agreement has been executed and land acquisition completed.

The company is also looking to acquire another 100+ acres in nearby Union Township.

Columbus, Ohio, is becoming a major data center market, with the likes of Amazon, CyrusOne, Edged, Google, Meta, QTS, Aligned, and others building or operating data centers in the area. A DC Byte report recently identified New Albany – a suburb of Columbus – as the "data center capital of the midwest."

Microsoft is building out large landbanks in the area, acquiring 580 acres in Licking County’s Pataskala and around 200 acres in Licking County’s New Albany.