Alphabet, the parent company of Google, has announced plans to spend $3.3bn on building two new data centre campuses and expanding a pre-existing facility in South Carolina.
The data centres will be used to fuel Alphabet's digital services including Google Search, Cloud, and Maps, and meet growing demand for cloud, compute and AI capabilities.
Hundreds of jobs will be created across the Dorchester and Berkeley counties when the campuses open up in the Pine Hill Business Campus in Ridgeville and Winding Woods Commerce Park in St. George. These facilities will cost Alphabet $2 billion and create 200 new operational jobs.
Additionally, Google will plough an extra $1.3bn into beefing up a data centre campus in Mount Holly Commerce Park in Moncks Corner, Berkeley County.
Monique Picou, Google global Cloud Supply Chain and Operations vice president said: “Today marks a significant milestone in Google’s collaboration with South Carolina. Our continued investment is a testament to the state’s exceptional workforce and thriving business environment.
“Google data centres are the backbone of digital services that underpin our modern lives, along with tech innovation like AI. We’re grateful for the collaboration with leaders in the state to not only grow our digital infrastructure here but contribute to this thriving community.”
In its second quarter 2024 results, Alphabet said its reported capex for the period was $13 billion - up from roughly $7 billion during the same period in 2023.
On an earnings call to discuss Q2 2024 numbers, CEO Sundar Pichai said the send was "once again driven overwhelmingly by investment in our technical infrastructure, with the largest component for servers, followed by data centers."
Alphabet expects quarterly CapEx throughout the year to "be roughly at or above the Q1 CapEx of $12 billion" - meaning the annual spend will be $49 billion.
At the time, Sundar Pichai, CEO, said: “Our strong performance this quarter highlights ongoing strength in Search and momentum in Cloud. We are innovating at every layer of the AI stack. Our longstanding infrastructure leadership and in-house research teams position us well as technology evolves and as we pursue the many opportunities ahead.”
During Q2, Alphabet raked in revenues of $85 billion, up 14% year-on-year, with the growth driven by Search as well as Cloud, which exceeded $10 billion in quarterly revenues and $1 billion in operating profit for the first time.
South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster said: “Google’s latest investment will strengthen South Carolina’s position as an emerging leader in technology and innovation. We are proud to support Google’s operations in Dorchester and Berkeley counties and look forward to the many opportunities our continued partnership will create for our people."
