A large technology company is behind plans for a large data center campus in northern Ohio. At the same time, Apple is reportedly planning a new data center campus in the state.

Liames LLC comes to the Toledo area

WTOL 11 and The Blade report an unnamed ‘Fortune 200 tech company’ is planning a large data center development outside Toledo.

Middleton Township trustees discussed plans for a $750 million project during a trustees' zoning meeting last week. The trustees have adopted a resolution backing the project.

As previously reported, the campus would be built on land near I-75 and State Route 582, within the township, between Perrysburg and Bowling Green. The site is close to a First Energy substation on Mercer Road.

The development is reportedly set to include “several” 300,000 to 400,000-square-foot (28,870-37,160 sqm) buildings, and construction is expected to begin in 2026 and set to go live in 2030.

The unnamed company is conducting deals and negotiations in the area through a shell company known as Liames LLC.

"There are alternatives to this kind of project that can go in there. It could be e-commerce fulfillment that could go in there, it could be trucking distribution centers. Both of which would have a much more negative impact on the surrounding neighbors and surrounding properties and they don't bring the same dollar amount per square foot as a data center," said Middleton Township Board of Trustees chairman Mike Multon.

Middleton Township is located in northern Ohio close to the Michigan border, just south of Toledo in Wood County. The Blade notes earlier this year township officials approved an amendment that allows "Data Storage" as an approved use in industrially-zoned parts of the township.

The township's trustees recently approved the rezoning of 402 acres of land from agricultural to light industrial use, following the rezoning of another 279 acres late last year.

The Eastwood Local School District Board of Education recently approved a tax abatement agreement and the Otsego Local School District’s board is said to be likely to do the same soon. Wood County commissioners are reportedly considering additional tax breaks via an Ohio Community Reinvestment Area designation.

Aligned recently announced plans for a large campus in Ohio’s Perkins Township, some 60 miles east of the Wood County project.

Most of Ohio’s major data center development has been centered around Columbus, with developments from the likes of AWS, Google, Meta, and Microsoft.

Apple coming to Ohio?

Further south, Apple might soon join other hyperscalers in Ohio.

Y-City News reports that heavy rumors are circulating that the company is building a data center in Central Ohio.

The publication reports “multiple people” are saying the iPhone maker is eying its next data center campus in the state.

“According to multiple individuals Y-City News has spoken with, the deployment of an Apple data center to Central Ohio is an almost certainty at this point, though the timelines provided by sources differed,” the publication said.

Governor Mike DeWine reportedly laughed and avoided the question week, saying: “We are trying to get anybody in Ohio to employ people and expand businesses.”

As well as being a major Google Cloud customer, Apple has data centers in operation or development in Denmark, China, Iowa, Nevada, Oregon, Arizona, and North Carolina.

It previously had a data center in San Jose that is now owned by T5. A campus in Ireland has long been on the cards but little has come of the company’s efforts.

DCD has reached out to Apple for more information.