Why developers come here
Indiana offers one of the longest data center tax exemptions in the country, large tracts of flat farmland at the junction of two grid operators, and a state government that has actively recruited hyperscalers. Amazon’s $11 billion Project Rainier campus at New Carlisle (St. Joseph County), Google’s $2 billion Fort Wayne campus, Meta’s $10 billion Lebanon campus in the state-assembled LEAP district, and Microsoft’s $1 billion LaPorte project all landed between 2024 and 2026. Northern Indiana is within a day’s drive of Chicago and sits on long-haul fiber; central Indiana has the I-65 corridor and Indianapolis.
Average industrial electricity cost 8.15 cents per kWh in 2024 according to EIA, higher than Ohio but below Michigan and Wisconsin, and Indiana’s utilities have been willing to build gas generation for large customers. The tradeoff is political: local opposition has escalated faster here than almost anywhere else.
Incentives
- Sales and use tax exemption. Indiana Code 6-2.5-15 exempts qualified data center equipment and the energy used to run it. The Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) issues a certificate for up to 25 years for investments under $750 million and up to 50 years for investments over $750 million (Microsoft’s LaPorte award was 35 years). Minimum investment is reported by IEDC as ranging from at least $25 million to more than $150 million depending on the population of the county; confirm the bracket for a specific county with IEDC.
- Local property tax. Counties and cities may exempt qualified enterprise information technology equipment from personal property tax for owners investing at least $25 million, and routinely grant real property abatements through economic revitalization areas.
- 2026 changes. House Enrolled Act 1210, signed March 12, 2026, lets the host county or municipality require a quarterly payment of up to 1 percent of the state sales tax not paid on the center’s electricity, for centers approved after June 30, 2026. An earlier version would have required at least 1 percent of both equipment and electricity; the final version is a cap, not a floor. HB 1406 orders a state report on the cost of data center incentives. A bill that would have let large projects bypass local zoning on lower-quality farmland (HB 1333) died after pushback, as did a proposed IURC study of data center power demand.
Power
Indiana is split between grid operators. Most of the state, including NIPSCO in the north (New Carlisle), AES Indiana around Indianapolis, and Duke Energy Indiana, is in MISO. Indiana Michigan Power (I&M), an AEP subsidiary serving Fort Wayne and South Bend, is in PJM.
House Enrolled Act 1007 (2025) set state policy that large-load customers must provide financial assurances covering at least 80 percent of the utility’s project costs to serve them. The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) approved I&M’s large-load tariff on February 19, 2025 in a settlement joined by Amazon, Google, Microsoft, the consumer counselor, and Citizens Action Coalition. It applies to new or expanding loads above 70 MW at one site or 150 MW in aggregate, includes minimum demand commitments, and requires IURC approval for any agreed reduction of more than 20 percent of contracted capacity. AES Indiana filed a 15-year minimum service agreement for Google’s proposed Monrovia campus in April 2026 under which Google pays 100 percent of incremental infrastructure and generation costs, with minimum demand commitments and exit provisions; an order was expected in September 2026. NIPSCO has signed its own large-load agreements for the New Carlisle campus. Water use, particularly for cooling in aquifer-dependent rural areas, has been a recurring theme at county hearings.
Where the projects are
The northern tier along the Indiana Toll Road (St. Joseph, LaPorte, and Allen counties) has the largest operating campuses: AWS Project Rainier at New Carlisle and Google’s Fort Wayne site. Central Indiana’s Boone County LEAP district hosts Meta Lebanon, with proposals in Hendricks, Morgan (Google Monrovia), Hancock, and Marion counties. Southern Indiana has smaller activity near Jeffersonville.
Local politics
By mid-2026 Indiana University’s Environmental Resilience Institute counted 11 counties with data center ordinances, at least 17 with temporary moratoria, and two, Marshall and Cass, with outright bans. Boone County commissioners adopted a one-year moratorium on new data centers in unincorporated areas from June 16, 2026 through June 15, 2027, citing a 2009 comprehensive plan and 1998 zoning ordinance that never contemplated the use; existing facilities are unaffected. Google withdrew a Franklin Township (Indianapolis) rezoning in September 2025 after sustained opposition, and Indianapolis’s Metropolitan Development Commission voted 5-3 in July 2026 to recommend new zoning rules. Over 200 residents from 40 counties rallied at the Statehouse in February 2026. Concerns are water, electricity rates, farmland conversion, noise, and few permanent jobs.
Support has come from the state (Governor Braun and the Indiana Chamber publicly welcomed Meta’s Lebanon project), from LaPorte, where the city council approved Microsoft’s second campus, and from communities that see the projects as a replacement for lost manufacturing tax base.
What a landowner should know
Developers here typically seek 300 to 1,500 acres of contiguous farmland near a 138 kV or 345 kV line, and most assemble land through option agreements that pay a per-acre annual fee while zoning and utility studies proceed; the New Carlisle and Lebanon campuses were built this way. Zoning is decided at the county or municipal plan commission, and the wave of moratoria means a parcel’s status can change mid-option, so ask the county planning office whether a pause or ordinance is pending and have the option address it. HEA 1210 payments go to the local government, not the landowner. The state contact is the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, which certifies the exemption and controls the LEAP district. Indiana has no state disclosure rule for data center land deals, and NDAs are common.