Hyperscale Data announces Dowagiac robotics plans as city says questions remain
Chief Executive Officer William B. Horne said the project is expected to create more than 500 jobs over the next three years, including robotics engineers, AI data specialists, infrastructure personnel and operations staff. The company did not specify how many of those positions would be based in Dowagiac or when hiring would begin.
Some critics of data center expansion projects say promised employment benefits can be overstated, arguing that many permanent positions require specialized expertise while the most immediate local jobs are often construction-related and temporary.
Hyperscale Data, Inc. says it plans to begin robotics operations inside its existing Dowagiac facility, but city officials say they still have no new information about the company’s broader expansion plans.
The company announced April 20 that it is accelerating upgrades to its Michigan operations by converting portions of its current campus into a combined artificial intelligence data center and robotics hub.
In a press release, Hyperscale said it plans to reconfigure sections of its existing building on the company’s 34.5-acre campus to support AI infrastructure, robotics deployment, and large-scale data generation. In the same release, the company said it currently operates about 30 megawatts of power capacity at the site and believes there is potential to expand to more than 300 megawatts over time.
The changes would occur within the company’s existing 617,000-square-foot facility at 415 E. Prairie Ronde St. The company said it plans to dedicate more than 100,000 square feet of that building to AI and robotics operations.
According to the release, the planned expansion includes:
- robotics assembly and testing capabilities
- real-world environments for data collection and system validation
- integration of computing infrastructure with robotics-driven data generation
The company said data generated through those activities is expected to be commercialized in U.S. markets and support domestic AI development.
Chief Executive Officer William B. Horne said the project is expected to create more than 500 jobs over the next three years, including robotics engineers, AI data specialists, infrastructure personnel and operations staff. The company did not specify how many of those positions would be based in Dowagiac or when hiring would begin.
“We are enhancing our Michigan operations into a scaled AI and robotics platform that supports both high-performance compute and real-world data generation,” Horne said in the release. “This next phase of development positions us to support evolving AI workloads while creating high-quality jobs in the region.”
Some critics of data center expansion projects say promised employment benefits can be overstated, arguing that many permanent positions require specialized expertise while the most immediate local jobs are often construction-related and temporary.
Questions remain over land purchase
The announcement is the company’s first public update regarding its Dowagiac operations since Patrick M. Bakeman issued an open letter on April 1 criticizing the company’s lack of transparency about a separate land purchase tied to future expansion plans. In the letter, Bakeman demanded the company provide clarity about the land purchase within 45 days.
Earlier this year, Hyperscale Data announced it had entered into an agreement to acquire about 48.5 additional acres of land in southwest Michigan through subsidiary Alliance Cloud Services LLC. At the time, the company said the purchase would help expand its Michigan campus and meet growing demand for artificial intelligence and high-performance computing.
Bakeman wrote that the company’s public announcements had been vague, and noted no permit requests or development proposals had been submitted to the city.
“We stand ready to listen,” Bakeman wrote. “However, no proposal has been submitted and no decisions have been made. It is your responsibility to bring forward a clear and transparent plan.”
As of April 27, the company had not publicly identified the location of the 48.5-acre parcel.
Bakeman told Watershed Voice by text message this week that the city has received no updates from the company since the letter was issued.
During the non-agenda public comment portion of Monday night’s Dowagiac City Council meeting, a resident asked Bakeman whether the company’s recent webinar had sufficiently addressed concerns raised in the letter. Bakeman did not address the question during later commissioner comments.
Hyperscale Data has not responded to previous requests for comment from Watershed Voice.
Maxwell Knauer is a staff writer for Watershed Voice.
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