News · Data centers in the Midwest

A new Google data center near Detroit shows where AI power demand is heading: the Midwest

On October 14, the Van Buren Township Planning Commission approved the final site plan for Google’s data center on a 282-acre site near Detroit Metro Airport. It is one more sign that large AI and cloud campuses are coming to the industrial Midwest, about 200 miles from Hyper Tech’s plant in Columbus, Ohio.

Hyper Tech · October 16, 2026 · 3 min read

Concept visualization: a 100 MW or larger data center campus powered by eight Hyper Tech generators.
ConceptScale-up to a 100 MW or larger data center with eight generators. Hyper Tech concept visualization, not the Van Buren Township project.

What was approved

The township’s Planning Commission voted 5–1 to approve the final site plan for the project, known as Project Cannoli. The site lies between I-94 and I-275, a few miles west of Detroit Metro Airport, and is already zoned for industrial use. Google will own and operate the data center; industrial developer Panattoni is managing construction, working with Detroit-based Walbridge Construction.

282 acressite in Van Buren Township, Wayne County
$2 billionin construction contracts for Wayne County businesses, says Panattoni
50–200on-site employees when complete
$15 millionfrom Google to each of the county and the township

Local officials called it a generational investment. “Communities don’t get opportunities like this every day,” said Sarah Gregory of the Detroit Regional Partnership. Neighbors also asked hard questions about noise, construction dust and utility use: questions that now come with every large data-center approval, and that shape how new campuses will be powered.

Why it matters

  • Power is the constraint. The biggest constraint for AI data centers is timely power. Each new campus needs large blocks of reliable electricity, often faster than new grid capacity can be built.
  • Behind-the-meter generation, built for the racks. Hyper Tech’s CROSSOVER program is developing on-site generation in 16 MW blocks, with 800 V DC supplied directly from the generator and isolated buses for the GPU racks.
  • Fewer conversions, less heat. Power reaching a data center is converted between AC and DC several times, and every conversion loses some as heat. Moving to DC removes conversions, and Hyper Tech’s superconducting cables, fault current limiters and SMES add efficiency and protection on the same network.
  • Built in the Midwest. CROSSOVER design and manufacturing are in the United States. Hyper Tech makes superconducting wire and builds its machines at its 41,000 square foot facility in Columbus, Ohio, within a day’s drive of the new Midwest campuses.

Read with care: Hyper Tech is not involved in the Van Buren Township project, and Google, Panattoni and the township have not commented on Hyper Tech. Project details are as reported by Michigan Public. CROSSOVER is a development program; ratings and dates are design targets.

Planning a Midwest data-center campus?

Data-center developers and investors can see the technical package, site economics and financial model under a mutual NDA.

Request the NDA

Sources

  1. Michigan Public: “Google wins zoning approval for huge data center near Detroit airport”, October 15, 2026.
  2. Hyper Tech: CROSSOVER, power for AI data centers and Data Centers.

Earlier post: 16 MW blocks at 800 V DC: what NVIDIA showed at OCP