Google releases new details on Clarksville data center – The Business Journals
The tech giant has confirmed its plans to make a more than half-billion-dollar investment at the dormant Hemlock megasite.
Tech giant Google has confirmed its plans to open a data center at Clarksville’s dormant Hemlock Semiconductor site.
Google is investing $600 million in the project, which will create 70 jobs, the company announced in a news release Tuesday afternoon.
“This site comes with the benefits of existing infrastructure, which we plan to reuse and recycle – for example, many of the office buildings will be used for Googlers when the data center is operational,” Joe Kava, Google’s vice president for data center operations, said in the release. “At the same time, we have room to innovate and grow both as a data center and as a member of the Montgomery County community. We’re excited about the opportunity to experiment with new kinds of technology and design an impressive facility.”
Mountain View, Calif.-based Google is acquiring the 1,300-acre site, where Hemlock Semiconductor seven years ago planned to build a $1.2 billion polysilicon plant. The Tennessean reported Monday that Google planned to buy the former Hemlock megasite.
Hemlock mothballed its project in January 2013 shortly before it was slated to begin production, citing oversupply and the threat of tariffs on products sold in China. The Dow Corning subsidiary finally pulled the plug on the plant last December.
The data center will be Google’s eighth in the United States and 15th across the globe. On a timetable for operations, Google said, “It can sometimes take years” to launch a data center.
In its release, Google said the site would be powered entirely by renewable energy through an arrangement with the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Google also announced it will partner with Clarksville and Montgomery County officials to launch grant programs to support science and technology education in the area.
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