GM Plans $258 Million Data Center in Michigan

GM-datacenter

An illustration of the design for a new General Motors data center in Warren, Michigan. The company has announced plans to build a similar facility in Milford, Mich.

General Motors is hoping to build a $258 million data center at a research facility it owns in Milford, Michigan. The company is seeking tax abatements for the project at the Milford Proving Ground, which would feature a 100,000 square foot data center and employ about 20 workers.

"GM is developing a business case regarding a possible future investment to construct and equip a consolidated GM information technology data center facility in Milford, Mich., on the GM Proving Ground campus," the company told the Detroit Free Press.

The Milford site appears to be the second data center to be built as part of a huge data center consolidation at GM that would centralize its IT infrastructure, consolidating from 23 sizable data centers worldwide to just two facilities in Michigan. Last June, GM announced that the first of the new data hubs would be a $130 million facility located in Warren, Mich.  As part of that process, the company will refresh its server and storage gear to bring higher levels of automation and efficiency to its infrastructure.

The consolidation is part of a GM initiative to drastically reduce its reliance upon third-party outsourcing firms. The automaker currently outsources about 90 percent of its IT services to systems integrators including HP/EDS, IBM, Capgemini, and Wipro.

GM is requesting a 50 percent tax abatement on real property and personal property for 15 years in Milford, township officials said. The GM Milford Proving Ground was the industry's first dedicated automobile testing facility when it opened in 1924, and covers 4,000 acres.