CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. β Google announced Wednesday it will build a data center in Chesterfield County as part of a $9 billion investment in Virginia through 2026.
The tech giant said the new Chesterfield data center and the expansion of centers in Loudoun and Prince William counties are needed to keep up with cloud-based storage and artificial intelligence demands.
Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin touted the investment as beneficial for the state.
"I'm a big advocate for data centers. Why? They bring enormous investment, they bring a great tax base, they have great jobs to hire people and pay them very, very good salaries. And on top of that, the ecosystem that builds up around our data center community has somewhere between six and 10 more jobs that come with it," Governor Youngkin said. "Do we need to make sure that citizen voices are heard? Yes. Do we need to make sure that local leaders are empowered to make decisions about where they go? Yes. Should that be decided in Richmond? Absolutely not."
The Chesterfield data center will be built near Meadowville Technology Park along the 2700 Bermuda Hundred Road.
"This project has been many years in the making. We've been working with the state and with the Chesterfield Economic Development Authority and other partners regionally to advance this project for many years," Google spokesperson Amber Tillman said. "When we look for new sites, we look for a strong talent pool, both for construction and operations, as well as available infrastructure and land. Most importantly [we look for] great community partners who want to work with us and who will help us advance our projects quickly."
Details like a timeline for the project or the number of jobs it could bring to the area have not yet been announced.
Tillman did say Google was in a pre-construction phase right now and an average data center takes Google about 18 to 24 months to develop.
This is a developing story. Email the CBS 6 Newsroom if you have additional information to share.
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