Google is bringing a new facility and so much more to Ohio! The tech giant broke ground on its $600 million data center in New Albany just yesterday! Although it was more of a celebration than ground break, officials are very pleased to move forward with the project. The new facility is coming in as part of the $13 billion budget in planned investments on new and expanded data centers and offices across the U.S. by company this year.
Google officials were in New Albany this Friday for the groundbreaking celebration at the city’s International Business Park. The new data center facility represents a $600 million investment in Ohio’s internet infrastructure.
Thousands of Ohioans are already employed through construction and trade jobs as they work towards completion of the project.
The company also announced a $1 million Google.org Impact Challenge Ohio. They are calling on nonprofits throughout the state to submit their most innovative ideas to create economic opportunities for their community.
Ohio Republicans, Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted and U.S. Representative Troy Balderson, were in attendance along with New Albany’s mayor and the head of the economic development organization One Columbus. Lt. Governor Husted oversees technology development in the state.
“We thank Google for their investment in Ohio,” said Lt. Governor Jon Husted. “This and additional data center investments have contributed to making Ohio the tech center of the Midwest. The infrastructure that accompanies these types of investments creates a real and strategic economic advantage for Ohio.”
This project is the latest in what has been a string of data centers for central Ohio.
New Albany spokesman Scott McAfee says the city is excited about Google’s investment in central Ohio.
“New Albany has a strong track record of attracting and retaining a high caliber of businesses and technological companies,” said New Albany Mayor Sloan Spalding, “Google’s data center is another example of this and we are thrilled to have them join our community.”
CEO Sundar Pichai has emphasized the excitement regarding Google’s growth outside its Mountain View, California, home and across the Midwest and South.
“2019 marks the second year in a row we’ll be growing faster outside of the (San Francisco) Bay Area than in it,” he wrote.
Google will also build new data centers in Nevada, Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, South Carolina and Virginia. Pichai estimated the construction of the new centers will employ 10,000 workers.
It makes good political sense for Google to highlight its expansions outside coastal cities, said CFRA Research analyst Scott Kessler. U.S. legislators have paid increasing attention to Google and other big tech companies in the past year, and are considering passing privacy laws to regulate the companies’ reach. Investing more widely across the U.S. could help it curry favor with federal politicians and officials, he said.
Google is focused on expanding its cloud-computing business, a market where it faces stiff competition from larger rivals Amazon and Microsoft. The company will have a physical presence in 24 states by the end of the year.
Google did not give an exact number of employees it expects to hire as a result of the 2019 expansions, but said it would be “tens of thousands” of full-time workers.
They hope to open the brand new facility in New Albany next year and are already filling positions online.
Source: Justin Sullivan / Getty
Source: NBC4i
