Latest $600M Google Data Center Comes Online in Oregon

Google has formally opened its second data center in the Dalles, Oregon, twice as big as the Gooogle data center in the Columbia River Gorge community. The cost of the expansion is believed to be $600 million, according to The Oregonian (signup required).

The company’s astronomical data center investments indicate how fast its internet services continue to grow. Google announced the Oregon expansion in 2013.

Oregon was home to the first Google data center that was owned and operated by the company under its initiative to build its own energy-efficient infrastructure that kicked off in 2006. That project has been one of the data center industry’s most photographed facilities. Several projects from other big tech giants like Apple, Amazon, and Facebook followed, firmly placing the state on the data center map.

Last year Google did a “rip and replace” upgrade of the electrical infrastructure to boost its server capacity in Oregon.

Google paid $1.2 million to the city, Wasco County, and the local school district in a 2013 tax break deal ahead of the latest data center. Google will pay $800,000 annually following the initial payment. The approved package could save Google tens of millions over the deal's 15-year lifespan.

Dubbed the Silicon Forest, the region features low-cost power, moderate climate, and good tax breaks for data center operators. The recent data center exemption from central assessment makes the region all the more attractive.

Google invests billions of dollars in data centers every year. The company went from slightly north of 100 servers 15 years ago, when it was founded, to spending about $5 billion per quarter on building and operating its data center infrastructure.

A recent report revealed that the level of infrastructure spending has led to some major funds cutting stake in the company.

Google is currently considering an expansion in Atlanta, where Douglas County officials recently approved a package of tax breaks for the potential project. Other recent data centers in the works include its first company-owned facility in the Netherlands and a reported $66 million project in Taiwan.

Other major expansions include but are not limited to: a $600 million expansion in Berkeley County, South Carolina; $390 million in new data center construction in St. Ghislain, Belgium; another $400 million in construction in its campus in Lenoir, North Carolina; $400 milllion in additional expansion spending in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Earlier, Apple was reported to be resuming expansion in Prineville. Multi-tenant data center provider ViaWest announced it was building in Oregon in February. Oregon's data center boom continues following a few months of stutter during the central assessment controversy.