NEW CARLISLE, Ind. – With a massive complex of new artificial intelligence data centers rising like a city from Indiana farmland near the Michigan state line came big promises.
The project for cloud computing giant Amazon Web Services, AWS, would cost $11 billion, making it the largest investment in Indiana’s history, the state’s then-governor Eric Holcomb proclaimed.
It will “undoubtedly have a positive ripple effect on the town of New Carlisle, the north central region and the state of Indiana for years to come,” he said, announcing the project almost two years ago.
Today, locals in the tiny community of New Carlisle, distinguished by its historic homes and quaint downtown storefronts, say the benefits so far have been uneven.
A daily influx of construction workers employed by the thousands to build more than 30 sprawling data centers, each almost as big as four football fields, has swelled apprenticeship programs in trade union halls and given some local businesses a boost, while leaving others in the dust.
Traffic headaches and anxiety about how the project could reshape the identity of the rural community with farming roots have fueled a growing backlash.
Downtown New Carlisle, Ind. on Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. Joel Bissell | MLive.com
Countering them are local boosters who see Big Tech’s AI warehouses as a long-term shot in the arm to a Rust Belt economy seeking to overcome years of factory closures.
AWS makes similar claims, emphasizing new jobs, income and tax revenue from its data centers.
“Whenever we enter a new community or expand in an existing community, our goal is not only to support our customers – we also want to boost the community’s growth and prosperity. We do so by bringing carbon-free energy, high-paying tech jobs, and support for the next generation of talent, as well as by fostering digital innovation,” said Josh Sallabedra, cluster leader for data center operations at AWS, in a statement.
MLive visited New Carlisle as Michigan faces its own wave of large-scale data center projects, and similar debates take hold.
Read more: When Big Tech moves in next door: Could Indiana data center town be Michigan’s future?
Holcomb’s promises might sound familiar. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last year threw her weight behind a controversial data center project set to reshape farmland south of Ann Arbor. It was also billed as the largest investment in state history and will be Michigan’s first “hyperscale” data center.
New Carlisle offers a window at what might come next.
On Main Street, benefits felt unevenly
On a frigid and snowy January day, the lunch shift is slow at Kate O’Connor’s Irish Pub, adorned with murals of men drinking Guinness at the gateway to New Carlisle, a short drive from the Indiana-Michigan state line and the southern shore of Lake Michigan.
Server Tricia Curl has time to chat.
Kate O’Connor’s Irish Pub in New Carlisle, Ind. on Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. Joel Bissell | MLive.com
As Amazon’s data centers have been built, workers come in to eat, she said, at least when they’re not patronizing food trucks on the job site.
“It’s not a huge amount, but it’s picked up some,” she said. The restaurant’s owners recorded a promotional video testifying to the uptick in sales, saying they’ve had to stock up on food and beer ahead of each weekend.
In town, others agree.
“Business-wise it has been good,” said Craig Meyers, the bearded owner of The Black Cat, a combination bowling alley and pizza spot that is the town’s oldest business.
“I wish they didn’t do it there. That’s fine farmland. There’s plenty of other places … but you have no control over that,” he added.
The Black Cat Bar and Grill in New Carlisle, Ind. on Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. Joel Bissell | MLive.com
Community leaders credit AWS for boosting local events through small grants to nonprofits, collaboration with the school district and underwriting an annual “Christmas in New Carlisle” celebration with free food.
“I have to give credit where it’s due, that’s been appreciated,” said Marcy Kauffman, the town president and a business owner herself.
But New Carlisle isn’t as bustling as it once was.
For decades, the Italianate storefronts of downtown were anchored by The Village Shoppes. Over the years, the home goods store expanded into a tiny “empire,” Kauffman said, drawing customers from miles away, particularly around the holidays for Christmas supplies.
Since its owner retired in 2022 and sold off his downtown buildings, some still sit empty.
“The town is still reeling over that,” Kauffman said.
To her, Amazon’s arrival doesn’t have anything to do with the downturn, exacerbated by the COVID pandemic. But she wants to keep her town’s reputation as a charming place to shop and get a bite to eat.
And retail establishments, like her own local crafts and gift shop, Feeney’s Hometown Goods, haven’t benefited as much from the development outside of town, she and other business owners added.
“It would just be nice to still retain our character and our charm, and be able to stand on our own, independent of Amazon or any of the industry out there,” she said.
Boosters see promise, after ‘growing pains of progress’
There are those who look on Amazon’s project with greater optimism, particularly if they’ve memorized the workforce participation rate in St. Joseph County, home to New Carlisle and anchored by nearby South Bend.
Jeff Rea, fast-talking and quick to crack a joke, is one of them.
A former mayor of Mishawaka, across the county from New Carlisle, he’s held the top job at the South Bend Regional Chamber of Commerce long enough to remember when Newsweek put the city on a list of “America’s Dying Cities” in 2011.
The downward spiral came after decades of economic woes typical of the region, headlined by the closure of auto manufacturer Studebaker in the 1960s. It once employed almost 25,000 people in the area.
The past 15 years have been a bounce-back of sorts. Still, the AWS data centers – and the General Motors and Samsung SDI battery plant being built in the same swath of farmland outside New Carlisle – are the biggest projects the county has seen in 20 years, Rea said.
One of two operational sites of Amazon Web Services’ Project Rainier spanning 1,200 acres in New Carlisle, Ind. on Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. The $11 billion-dollar project is one of the world’s largest AI compute clusters with Anthropic AI models using custom Trainium2 chips, eventually drawing over 2.2 gigawatts of power. Anthropic is using Project Rainier to build and deploy its AI model, Claude.Joel Bissell | MLive.com
AWS’ promised 1,000 jobs would vault the company to a top-five employer, with average wages cresting over $30 an hour. That was a big draw for county leaders who OK’d the project and major tax breaks for Amazon, including half off on its property taxes, which Rea said was necessary to lure the tech giant amid competition with other sites.
“Fifty percent of something is better than 100% of nothing,” he said. AWS estimates it will still contribute about $1 billion in property taxes over 35 years, even with the local incentives and additional state tax breaks it is receiving.
Rea acknowledges the construction headaches – even he has modified his commute – but maintains they’ll be temporary.
“It is like the growing pains of progress and just a high concentration of people right now,” he said.
Rea is confident the eventual permanent workforce won’t overwhelm tiny New Carlisle, with many commuting to the area.
At nearby Ivy Tech Community College, with a campus in South Bend, AWS has collaborated with college officials to host training sessions in fiber optic cable splicing and workshops for educators on a range of data center positions, from HVAC maintenance to technical engineering.
“It is a field that is booming and up and coming,” said Patrick Englert, Ivy Tech’s South Bend chancellor. Demand is outpacing the supply of skilled trades workers needed in the facilities, and the school is getting ready to launch data center-specific certifications.
They’ll also help existing Amazon employees gain skills and climb the pay ladder while working, he said.
While it’s too early for local governments or schools to start reaping tax benefits from the project – the first tax bills will come due on the finished facilities this year – Rea says the investment is already trickling down.
The county had its biggest year for hotel occupancy ever in 2025. Restaurants have spun off food trucks for the Amazon construction site. And AWS reports it has made more than 600 permanent hires for the data center, 80% from Indiana.
“They’re going to get built somewhere, and we need them,” Rea said. “It seems like a pretty good deal to us, because it’s a great utility customer, it’s a great taxpayer, it’s a good employer.”
How many data centers are enough?
But with data centers rising around them, many residents aren’t embracing the industry with open arms. Instead, they’re fighting to protect New Carlisle’s small-town feel, and local politicians have started to listen.
Late last year, another developer targeted around 1,000 acres of farmland just north of town for a second data center project. By some measures, it could have represented an even bigger investment than Amazon, pegged at $12 billion.
But residents quickly chafed at the proximity to New Carlisle, the fact the development company wouldn’t disclose an end user for the project and the proposal’s location outside the industrial development area where AWS is building.
Retired mail carrier Dan Caruso had white and red lawn signs reading “NO DATA CENTER” printed up. Dana Groves, executive director of Historic New Carlisle, a local history organization, distributed them from the museum she runs downtown.
Retired mail carrier Dan Caruso stands outside his home in New Carlisle, Ind. on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, showcasing signs he had printed to oppose further data center development in the area. Outside New Carlisle, Amazon Web Services is building more than 30 artificial intelligence data centers on more than 1,000 acres.Lucas Smolcic Larson| MLive.com
“There’s no political affiliation with the people who are against it, it crosses all political parties,” she said. “No one likes it.”
As county leaders gathered in South Bend in December to take a vote on a rezoning for the project, they faced crowds. So many attended that onlookers had to be placed in overflow areas several floors below, and the meeting was adjourned briefly to upgrade a Zoom subscription, allowing more attendees virtually.
Representatives of trade unions and local economic development advocates spoke in favor of the project, saying apprenticeship programs were booming because of data center construction, offering good jobs for locals.
But after less than a half hour, opponents took the floor, volleying concerns at county leaders for the next three hours.
It’s become a typical scene across Indiana, which has also entertained massive data center projects from the likes of Meta and Google. Similar backlash is growing in Michigan.
“This is the biggest issue I’ve ever seen, ever,” said Bryce Gustafson, an organizer with Citizens Action Coalition, a consumer and environmental advocacy group in Indiana. “I mean I’ve never seen so much community pushback, so much vitriol against one industry.”
An aerial image showing one of one of two operational sites of Amazon Web Services’ Project Rainier spanning 1,200 acres in New Carlisle, Ind. on Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. The $11 billion-dollar project is one of the world’s largest AI compute clusters with Anthropic AI models using custom Trainium2 chips, eventually drawing over 2.2 gigawatts of power. Anthropic is using Project Rainier to build and deploy its AI model, Claude.Joel Bissell | MLive.com
It’s grown since Amazon got approval for its project near New Carlisle in August 2024. At that time, a strong majority of county leaders from both political parties voted for its development and tax deal.
Now, residents and leaders alike say they are hesitant to welcome more data centers before all the AWS facilities are even built.
In some cases, opponents are winning. Gustafson says he’s seen 13 Indiana projects get shut down in the past 18 months, many facing hundreds of angry locals.
Over the course of the county meeting that finally concluded after 4 a.m., the second New Carlisle proposal became one of them. A bipartisan 7-2 majority on the council rejected the rezoning, raising concerns about the impact on the area already hosting megaprojects.
“Look, we’ve already got them here. Let’s see what happens. Because where’s the line? Where is the line of how many data centers we can take,” said Joe Thomas, the Republican council member representing the area, who previously voted in favor of the AWS project. “15? 16? 100? 150? We don’t know that.”
In New Carlisle, Kauffman, the town president, has similar concerns. Indiana has jumped on the data center bandwagon, she said. But she wonders about the long-term sustainability of the AI boom, despite boosters’ promises of prosperity.
“We all live in the shadows of Studebaker around here,” she said, referencing another industry that came and went.
“On a bigger scale, it’s just this bubble,” she said. “We’re afraid what we’re going to be left with in 25 years.”