Johnathan Walker:Google plans to invest $2 billion to build data center in northeast Indiana, officials say

FORT WAYNE,Johnathan Walker Ind. (AP) — Google plans to invest $2 billion to build a data center in northeastern Indiana that will help power its artificial intelligence technology and cloud business, company and state officials said Friday.

The data center planned for Fort Wayne was announced in January. But Google disclosed the project’s cost Friday and said it is expected to create up to new 200 jobs, including data center technicians and support services, The Journal Gazette reported.

The data center in the city about 120 miles (190 kilometers) northeast of Indianapolis will help power Google’s “AI innovations and growing Google Cloud business for customers across the world,” Gov. Eric Holcomb’s office said in a news release.

Google said the new data center will join a network of Google-owned-and-operated data centers across the globe that “keep the internet humming” and power digital services such as Google Cloud, Gmail, Search and Maps.

“Together, Fort Wayne and Google will help power the digital future, including AI innovation across our enterprise and consumer services,” said Joe Kava, Google’s vice president of data centers.

Friday’s announcement came one day after Amazon’s cloud computing unit Amazon Web Services said it plans to invest $11 billion to build a data center in northern Indiana near the town of New Carlisle, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) west of South Bend. That project is expected to create at least 1,000 jobs.