Microsoft (MS) has halted a large data center project with a capacity of about 2 gigawatts (GW) in the United States and Europe, Bloomberg reported recently.
2 gigawatts is equivalent to the electricity usage of about 1.5 million to 2 million households, and the project canceled by MS is due to an oversupply of cloud services stemming from changes in its contract with OpenAI. MS has modified its contract with OpenAI to allow the use of other cloud services, reducing the need for additional data center expansion.
MS stated, "Existing data centers can sufficiently meet customer demand, and in some regions, we will strategically adjust our infrastructure," and added, "We will invest resources in areas for future growth."
MS plans to invest about $80 billion in AI infrastructure during the fiscal year ending in June 2025, but will proceed with investments next year by adding servers to existing centers. Concerns about oversupply in data centers are being raised due to the bubble potential following the AI boom.