COLUMBUS, Ohio — Google on Wednesday announced that it is adding two more data centers in central Ohio.
One of the centers will be built in Lancaster and the other on South High Street in south Columbus, the company said. With the New Albany location already open, this brings the number of Google data centers in Ohio to three.
Governor Mike DeWine, Congressmen Troy Balderson and Mike Carey and Ohio Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Steve Stivers are attending the public announcement with Google executives.
“Ohio is a growing technology hub and data center market, and we welcome these two new Google projects in Columbus and Lancaster to complement the one already in New Albany,” DeWine said in a statement. “Google joins the growing number of companies that recognize that Ohio is a great place to live, work, and raise a family.”
Google says construction is underway at both the Columbus and Lancaster sites. Once completed, the data centers will help power the company’s artificial intelligence (AI) innovations and tools like Search, Gmail, and Maps.
“Central Ohio is on the rise, with the fastest growing economy in the Midwest,” said Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther. “Google is playing a big part in making the region a hub for cloud computing and priming the region for even more development. The future is very bright in Columbus and Central Ohio.”
"Lancaster is ready for this moment," said Lancaster Mayor David Scheffler. "We are a pro-business community; we have the infrastructure and we have the people. We are excited to welcome Google to our community."
Since the company broke ground in 2019 on its first data center in Ohio, Google said it has invested more than $2 billion in the state. Google added that it generated nearly $13 billion in economic activity for businesses and nonprofits.
“Tech is helping grow Ohio's economy. The data centers announced today will help power Google tools for users across the nation and worldwide,” said Mark Isakowitz, an Ohio native and vice president of government affairs and public policy for Google. “We are proud to partner with the state and local communities to help fuel the state’s growth as a technology hub.”
Ohio is seeing a wave of big investments by the technology industry.
Intel is building a $20 billion chip factory just east of Columbus, and Honda and LG Energy Solution of South Korea are building a $3.5 billion battery plant between Columbus and Cincinnati that the automaker envisions as its North American electric vehicle hub.
The area around Columbus also is home to data centers operated by Facebook and Amazon.
Data centers have proliferated across the U.S. and become a welcome revenue source for local governments. They also require a large amount of electricity and high-voltage transmission lines.