Amazon Planning $1.1bn Data Center Project In Central Ohio

Amazon is planning a major data center in Ohio. Columbus Business First (CBF) has surfaced plans for a massive project in Central Ohio. The e-commerce and cloud computing giant’s data center development unit Vadata Inc. was approved for two state tax credits of over $81 million from the Ohio Tax Credit Authority for the data center project.

The approved tax credit is a 15-year, 100 percent sales tax exemption. The facility is expected to bring 120 jobs and an estimated $1.1 billion investment over several years. The jobs will have a combined annual payroll of $9.63 million with an average salary of $80,000. The 15-year state income tax credit will generate $4 million in savings for Vadata and parent Amazon.

Not much information has surfaced other than the tax documents filed with Ohio first uncovered by CBF.

“The state has not released any information regarding a site for the project beyond saying it's targeted for Central Ohio,” writes CBF reporter Brian R Ball. “It also did not name Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) as the company behind Vadata, although several other sources made the connection.”

The project is still extremely secretive - Amazon has yet to comment. However, the fact that the project and tax credit is listed under the data center unit of the e-commerce giant means it's most definitely a data center.

The size of the tax credit and the number of jobs created suggests the project will be immense. There are currently 10 AWS Regions worldwide with four in the U.S. - perhaps soon to be five.