Earlier this week, local news media in Phoenix speculated that Microsoft would be the latest tech giant to open a data center in the region. Local news outlets referenced a Feb. 20 report by the Phoenix Business Journal, which cited numerous – mostly anonymous – sources confirming the Microsoft data center deal.

The unconfirmed reports have surfaced just weeks after Apple said it will spend $2bn on a new data center that will become its global command center. The site is in the southeast Phoenix suburb of Mesa, and was recently vacated by one of Apple’s suppliers that went out of business.

The Journal cited an unnamed commercial real estate executive, who claimed the 575,000-sq ft project would be operated by Microsoft, but may include investment by private equity firms and other data center providers. Another unidentified real estate professional in the region told the Journal that an unnamed buyer was looking for as much as 300,000 sq ft of data center space in the region, while yet another anonymous real estate source confirmed the deal closed the week before, and that the facility would be off of Union Hills Drive in Phoenix.

Much ado about nothing?

Even a politician lent legitimacy to what is seemingly a poorly kept secret. Jeff Dial, a Republican state senator, confirmed Microsoft was considering data center locations in the Phoenix area, and it is one of the companies lobbying for changes to the state’s data center tax breaks enacted in 2013. Dial has introduced revisions to the legislation, telling the Journal “Microsoft has said the changes and a favorable tax climate would help” land one of its new data center facilities within Arizona.

Microsoft’s response has been cagey at best. A company representative at the state’s capitol declined to comment for the Journal story, while a company spokesperson offered no details, other than noting that Microsoft is “continuously exploring new potential data center locations across the world.”

“We have nothing to share at this time,” a Microsoft spokesperson told DatacenterDynamics when questioned whether the report was accurate. It’s a peculiar development for a company that is seldom reluctant to publicize expansions to its IT infrastructure.

Microsoft’s latest data center news came just last week, when the company announced a $200m expansion at its facility near Cheyenne, Wyoming. Microsoft has spent nearly three quarters of a billion on data center builds and expansions in the Cheyenne region since 2012.

Since opening its first data center in 1989 at the company’s Redmond, Washington campus, Microsoft’s global infrastructure has ballooned to more than 100 data center facilities globally, including sites in Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Chicago, Des Moines, and Dublin.