LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Tom Leonard, a Republican candidate running for governor, recently posted on X about the land grab going on in Michigan to meet the rising demand of AI.

Leonard posted a snapshot on social media in which he said a friend of his was offered $11.2 million for her farm land at the rate of $70,000 an acre.

MORE NEWS: Texas Politician Says She Doesn’t Want Her State To Be Like Michigan

“This isn’t a joke!” Leonard wrote. “This is what big tech is doing in Michigan.”

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has promoted the AI data centers as job creators.

The Stargate OpenAI facility is being built by Oracle and Related Digital and would create 450 jobs on site, according to Whitmer’s press release.

Other data center projects around the state include Project Flex (172 acres), Project Cannoli (280 acres), Meta (proposed 1,077 acres) and Microsoft (356 acres), according to Crain’s Business.

Ari Peskoe, the director of the Electricity Law Initiative at the Harvard Law School Environmental and Energy Law Program, said in a 2025 Harvard press release that data centers under development will use more energy than large cities. Peskoe said that the increase in demand will boost the cost of electricity for everyone.