Microsoft had hired Ames Construction as general contractor for a  $420-million, 245,000-sq-ft data center, with construction slated to start later this year.

Licking County, Ohio, close to Columbus, was the site Microsoft chose to build a billion-dollar networks of data centers. Those plans will not move forward, the company now reports. The two unmentioned elephants in the room (or perhaps in the charming covered bridge) would be the tariffs,

Microsoft said it is “slowing or pausing” some of its data center construction, including a $1 billion project in Ohio, the latest sign that the demand for artificial intelligence technology that drove a massive infrastructure expansion might not need quite as many powerful computers as expected.