Microsoft has acquired 600 acres of land outside Des Moines, Iowa, for a potential data center campus.

As reported by the Des Moines Register, the land purchase in Woodward was revealed on October 12 during a meeting with local residents. The sale went through just four days prior, on October 8.

The land lies between Highway 141 and Seminole Avenue. Woodward is located around 30 miles northwest of Des Moines in Dallas County.

While the land was acquired for a data center campus, plans remain largely undecided.

At least 300 local residents attended the meeting earlier this week, which was held after the council's regular meeting was canceled. During the meeting, residents asked Mayor Todd Folkerts if they got a vote on the project, to which Folkerts responded: "No." According to the Des Moines Register, one resident shouted: "You work for the people." One resident was forcibly removed from the meeting.

Microsoft's land development manager, Jackie Nickolaus, told residents: "We have not even begun to design the building, so we have no idea what mechanical systems will be going into the buildings." She estimated that it would take two to three years to design the campus before construction work would begin, and the first building would take around two years to complete.

Nickolaus added that the data center is expected to serve cloud computing and data storage workloads, not AI training workloads.

The property Microsoft purchased was rezoned from agricultural use to Eco Business Park District in June 2026, with the council waiving the usual additional readings of the ordinance.

The value of the land purchase agreement has not been shared, but another area of the Eco Business Park is offering 59 acres at $62,400 per acre. Should the Microsoft land be priced the same, this would put the transaction at around $37.4m.

Microsoft is known to be developing various projects in the Des Moines area. In 2024, the company purchased 111 acres for Project Ruthenium. Other Microsoft data center sites in the area in various stages of development and operation include Project Ginger West, Project Ginger East, as well as Project Mountain, and Project Alluvion.

Tract is also developing in the Des Moines area, having acquired 282 acres earlier this year.