Microsoft West Des Moines AI Datacenter Cluster

Microsoft's West Des Moines, Iowa datacenter cluster is a long-running Azure infrastructure footprint that hosted major AI training work for OpenAI. Microsoft says it opened its first West Des Moines datacenter in 2012, added two more campuses, and planned fourth and fifth campuses by the end of 2023. Microsoft also says the physical datacenter infrastructure in Iowa was used with OpenAI to develop a custom supercomputing system for training large AI models, including GPT-4 context. The record is therefore reframed as a West Des Moines AI datacenter cluster rather than a single dedicated AI training campus. Microsoft states that it matches 100% of the energy used by its Iowa datacenters with renewable energy, while its April 2024 Iowa fact sheet adds LEED Gold, renewable-biofuel backup-generator transition, and cooling/water context. Public sources do not support the previous selected 800 MW capacity, so ADCI demotes selected capacity to unknown.