June 2, 2024 1:30p
(WGTD)---Details are beginning to emerge on Microsoft’s partnerships with Gateway Technical College and UW-Milwaukee. The construction of a Microsoft data center in Mt. Pleasant is expected to result in 2,000 jobs, and Microsoft involvement in various aspects of life in southeast Wisconsin.
At an appearance at the SC Johnson iMET Center in Sturtevant last month that featured President Biden, Microsoft President Brad Smith announced that the seventh Microsoft Artificial Intelligence Co-Innovation Lab will be located at UW-Milwaukee’s Connected Systems Institute.
Speaking on the new WPR program Wisconsin Today, Institute director Joe Hamann said the Microsoft presence will be unique. The lab will be the only one of the seven that will focus on helping manufacturers become more efficient through the use of artificial intelligence, and it'll be the only one that's located on a university campus, he said.
Hamann said construction has already begun on space at UW-M to house the Microsoft team.
At Gateway, Microsoft will be working to set up a data center training academy to train and certify more than 1,000 students over the next five years.
Also, Microsoft donated money to Gateway to be used to fund tuition for students enrolled in any aspect of data center work, including IT, facilities maintenance and HVAC.
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