Google plans to invest $9 billion in Virginia, including developing a new data center and expanding two existing facilities in Northern Virginia, the largest data center market in the world, as it increases its focus on cloud and artificial intelligence support systems.
The technology giant will invest the money through year-end 2026 to finance the development of the new data center in Chesterfield County and expand mission-critical facilities in Loudoun and Prince William counties, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said Wednesday.
"As AI is increasingly part of every aspect of work, this project reinforces our commitment to preparing Virginians for the future," Youngkin said in a statement. "Investments like this not only expand Virginia's cloud and AI infrastructure but also expand our efforts to build a future-ready workforce."
Google's new data center campus will be located about 17 miles south of Richmond at 2700 Bermuda Hundred Road in Chester, Devon Smiley, a spokesperson for Google, told CoStar News in an email. Smiley declined to offer further details on the company's plans to expand the existing locations.
Google is investing millions in data centers as demand for space with higher capacity and more effective cooling techniques is outpacing supply. Overall, data center vacancy hit an all-time low in North America despite a record amount of storage capacity, according to a midyear report from JLL.
Overall vacancy on the continent has fallen to an unprecedented 2.3%, JLL said, despite inventory reaching a record 15.5 gigawatts. Much of the new demand is being created by companies' desire to expand their AI and machine learning capabilities and capacities.
Construction on Google's Chesterfield project is already underway, though there is no exact timeline yet for completion, another spokesperson involved with the project told CoStar News in a phone interview. The spokesperson declined to discuss its cost or its megawatt capacity.
Wednesday's announcement follows Google's opening of its first data center in Northern Virginia in 2019, its announcement of plans to expand a second data center in the region in Loudoun County in 2021, and the opening of a third data center, this one in Prince William County, in 2023, according to its website.
In June, Botetourt County in Virginia's Roanoke region said Google purchased 312 acres zoned for industrial use and data centers.
Nearly 40% of the industrial buildings completed in greater Washington, D.C., since 2020 have been data centers, according to CoStar Market Analytics.