Photo via GPEC.org Press Release
By Ron Davis | Phoenix Business Journal
Google revealed its plans on Wednesday for its long-awaited large data center campus in southeast Mesa.
Early construction started on Google’s data center nearly two months ago on the northwest corner of Sossaman and Elliot roads. On Wednesday, Google was joined by Gov. Katie Hobbs, Mesa Mayor John Giles, Rep. Greg Stanton and other community leaders to draw attention to the data center project, which represents an investment of about $600 million by the company.
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Google announces new commitment to Arizona
By GPEC
MESA, Ariz. (September 6, 2023) – Today, Google broke ground on a new $600 million data center in Mesa, and will use state-of-the-art technology to air cool the facility. This will be the company’s first physical presence in the state. Governor Katie Hobbs, Mesa Mayor John Giles, and other community leaders joined Google in celebrating the announcement during an event today in Mesa.
Google’s continued investment in technical infrastructure, including its data centers, plays a critical role in supporting the company’s AI innovations and growing Cloud business. The new Mesa data center will help power popular digital services – like Google Search, Gmail, Maps, Google Cloud, and others – for people and organizations worldwide. Other industries rely on data center computing power as well–including healthcare, the public sector, manufacturing, financial services, retail and more–in order to serve customers and provide key services to local communities.
To support its growing customer base, Google also announced a new Google Cloud region is coming to Phoenix to complement its existing network of regions around the world. The new Phoenix cloud region will bring Google Cloud technologies closer to local customers — ranging from small, medium and large businesses to public sector entities and other organizations — to help them deliver digital services to their own users more reliably and at higher speeds.
“Google’s investment in Arizona will be critical for the Mesa community and our state’s economy,” said Governor Katie Hobbs. “Arizona continues to attract global technology leaders due to our skilled workforce, dynamic economy and focus on innovation. We are proud to welcome Google to Arizona and look forward to the many opportunities this partnership will bring.”
“Thanks to years of hard work and targeted investments—in our STEM workforce, critical infrastructure and water conservation—the East Valley has become a premier destination for tech giants and startups alike,” said Representative Greg Stanton. “Google’s new data operations center means hundreds of high-tech, high-wage jobs for Mesans, and I couldn’t be more excited to welcome them to our state.”
“The City of Mesa is thrilled to welcome Google to our community,” said Mesa Mayor John Giles. “Google’s decision to designate Mesa as the home for its first facility in Arizona underscores its profound confidence in our city and residents.”
In 2022, Google services provided more than $11.4 billion of economic activity for tens of thousands of Arizona businesses, nonprofits, publishers, creators and developers.
“We are proud to put down roots in Arizona with both the data center in Mesa and the Phoenix cloud region,” said Joe Kava, VP, Data Centers, Google. “Not only do data centers help keep digital services up and running for people and businesses, they are economic anchors in the communities where we operate. We are appreciative of the continued partnership with the local leadership across the state.”
Since 2017, Google has matched 100% of its annual electricity use with renewable energy. Today, the company is pursuing net-zero emissions across its operations and value chain by 2030, supported by an ambitious clean energy goal to run all its offices, data centers and cloud regions on carbon-free energy every hour of every day.
An important piece of this clean energy goal is Google’s climate-conscious approach to cooling data centers. This strategy prioritizes minimizing net climate impact and using natural resources responsibly, both today and in the future. In line with this approach, the Mesa data center will make use of air-cooled technology.
Beyond its operations, Google is committed to improving local watershed health where its office campuses and data centers are located and replenish 120% of the water it consumes, on average. As part of its commitment in Arizona, Google is announcing a $150,000 donation to help fund Salt River Project’s (SRP) effort focused on watershed restoration and wildfire risk reduction for surrounding rural communities. SRP is the largest provider of water to the Phoenix metropolitan area serving about 2.5 million people.
“We are committed to focusing our water stewardship efforts in water-scarce regions like Arizona,” said Kate Franko, Public Affairs Manager, Google. “This collaboration with SRP builds on our 2021 investment in the Colorado River Indian Tribes’ (CRIT) system conservation and canal lining project to improve water conservation in the Southwest.”
Learn more about Google in Arizona here.
