Google unveiled plans for a data center complex in Missouri next to a site where Amazon has proposed an even larger facility as tech giants make good on promises to spend hundreds of billions on facilities to expand their artificial intelligence networks.
Mountain View, California-based search giant Google plans to build the facility, code-named Project Spade, on more than 900 acres in New Florence, about 70 miles east of St. Louis, Missouri.
The project is the largest single investment in Missouri’s history, according to Gov. Mike Kehoe. It’s next to a site where Amazon unveiled plans in January for a development called Project Green. The Amazon Web Services project would be built in multiple phases across 1,000 acres.
Google’s announcement comes as tech giants and developers have announced dozens of projects that have vaulted data centers into the top ranks of real estate developments. Commissioners in Box Elder County, Utah, signed off this month on a proposal to build what could be the world’s largest data center, covering 40,000 acres — more than twice the size of Manhattan.
The proposal called the Stratos Project, backed by celebrity investor and venture capitalist Kevin O’Leary, is projected to consume 9 gigawatts of power — almost double Utah’s current energy demand — and cost $100 billion when fully built.
The hyperscale projects have created thousands of construction jobs, offsetting cuts in the nation’s sagging homebuilding industry, even as contractors face construction backlogs and struggle to find enough trade workers in the face of booming data center demand.
Related Digital, a data center business launched last year by New York-based developer Related Cos. to capitalize on the increased demand for the facilities, is slated to build the Google campus.
The company’s projects include a $16 billion campus for Oracle in Saline Township, Michigan, a 115-acre campus for CoreWeave near Cheyenne, Wyoming, and the 128-acre Illinois Quantum & Microelectronics Park at the former U.S. Steel South Works site in Chicago.
“Project Spade marks another remarkable milestone in Related Digital’s rapid growth and our team’s ability to execute, as we now have more than $35 billion of data center projects under active construction,” Related Cos. Chief Executive Officer Jeff Blau said in a LinkedIn post.
Addressing pushback
Data centers have faced pressure from local communities over concerns about water and electricity availability and rising power costs, prompting Google and other firms to map out plans to offset the impacts.
Google executives said this week that the New Florence facility will use advanced air-cooling technology that limits water consumption. The company also pledged to increase electricity-generation capacity by working with St. Louis-based electric utility Ameren to bring 500 megawatts of capacity to the state’s power grid, on top of a previous commitment to add 1.2 gigawatts of capacity.
Construction is expected to start this year, with the project expected to create 2,000 construction jobs. Google said it will fund workforce programs, including helping the Laborers and Contractors Training Center train thousands of new workers and apprentices.
“To deliver the upside of technology, we are investing in workforce development and energy affordability, both directly and through our partnerships with local organizations,” Ruth Portat, president and chief investment officer of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, said in a statement.
The commitment “will provide thousands of Missourians with valuable technical and trade skills, while supporting energy affordability for residents in Montgomery County and across the state,” Portat said.
Google and other tech giants have scaled back their office holdings and cut other expenses to redirect capital to higher-priority investments such as artificial intelligence and data center development.
Google’s parent company, Alphabet, plans to double its capital expenditure budget to between $180 billion and $190 billion this year as the search giant positions itself alongside Microsoft and Amazon in an AI infrastructure arms race. Alphabet’s capital spending budget was about $93 billion in 2025.