According to reports, the new facility will be based at Uruguay’s Science Park in the city of Canelones. It will be situated on a 20-hectare parcel of land that is within a duty-free tax zone and permits from the Canelones local authorities were issued to Google last month.
The news follows negotiations that took place when former Carolina Cosse, Uruguay’s former industry minister, visited Google’s headquarters in the US two years ago. The decision to launch this new facility In Uruguay was made back in 2017 after the installation of the Tannat cable, linking Uruguay to Brazil and Argentina. The 2,000km system was a joint project between Google and Antel Uruguay.
In addition, the project has been further bolstered by the presence of Google Currie cable, which links Chile to US along the entire west coast. The installation of the 10,000km system was completed in April earlier this year.
The new facility will become Google’s 14th global site joining existing assets in the US (South Carolina, Iowa, Oregon, Nevada, Alabama, North Carolina, Virginia, Oklahoma, Texas, Tennessee), South America (Chile), Europe (Ireland, Netherlands, Denmark, Finland and Belgium), and Asia (Taiwan and Singapore).
At the start of the year, Google CEO Sundar Pichai detailed the company’s $13 billion investment plan into new data centres across the US. According to Pichai, the company will plough $13 billion into new data centres and sites, with major expansions in the works for 14 states. In addition, he said that the move will create tens of thousands” of new jobs, giving Google a presence in 24 US states in total, with data centres in 13 of these.
From a global perspective, the company also announced that it was spending an approximate €600 million in a new data centre in Hamina, Finland. The new facility will sit within the company’s existing data centre campus in Hamina, adding to the currently site, which houses one of the most advanced, and efficient data centres in Google’s portfolio.
