Google Expands into Latin America With New Data Center in Chile

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Racks and racks of servers inside a Google data center. The company announced today that it will build its first data center in Latin America.

Google is expanding its infrastructure into South America. Today the search giant announced plans to build a $150 million data center in Quilicura, Chile. The facility will be Google's first data center in Latin America, and continues the international expansion of the network powering Google's growing empire of online products.

"Building this data center in Chile is an exciting step for us," Google said in a statement. "As Internet usage in Latin America grows, people are looking for information and entertainment, new business opportunities and better ways to connect with friends and family near and far. We’re building this data center to make sure that our users across Latin America and the world have the fastest and most reliable access possible to all of Google’s services."

Quilicura is a city of about 125,000 residents that is near Santiago. Google says it chose to build its data center in Chile because it offers a combination of reliable infrastructure, a skilled workforce and a "commitment to transparent and business friendly regulations." In choosing Chile, Google is bucking an industry trend in which data center operators have targeted Brazil as the beachhead for their expansions into the South American market.

Google didn't offer details on its plans for the facility, but said that it will be "built to the same high standards we use around the world." Construction is now beginning, and Google says it plans to start bringing the facility online by the end of 2013. In addition to creating construction jobs, the data center in Chile will employ up to 20 people in a variety of full-time and contractor roles, including computer technicians, engineers and catering and security staff.

The push into Latin America follows a vigorous expansion of Google's infrastructure into the Asia-Pacific region, where it is building new data centers in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. Earlier this year the company announced additional phases for its U.S. data centers in Iowa and Oklahoma. Last year Google said began construction of a new data center in Dublin, adding to European infrastructure that includes major facilities in Belgium and Finland.