Google to Spend $13B on New Data Centers & Offices in US

Google plans more than $13 billion in investments this year in data centers and offices across the US, with major expansions in 14 states, CEO Sundar Pichai said Thursday.

"These new investments will give us the capacity to hire tens of thousands of employees, and enable the creation of more than 10,000 new construction jobs in Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Texas, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Virginia," Pichai said in a blog post. "With this new investment, Google will now have a home in 24 total states, including data centers in 13 communities. 2019 marks the second year in a row we'll be growing faster outside of the Bay Area than in it."

In the last year, Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) hired more than 10,000 people in the US and made more than $9 billion in investments, Pichai says

In an earnings call last week, parent company Alphabet Inc. said Google spent $25.46 billion on capital expenditure, mostly on data centers and offices, a little more than double the previous year. On an earnings call, CFO Ruth Porat said she expects capital expenditure and headcount growth to slow this year. (See Google Doubles Capex to $25.46B, Mostly on Data Centers & Offices.)

Figure 1: Google doodle book. Photo by Google.

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Google needs to bulk up as it builds its cloud business and looks to catch up with frontrunners Amazon Web Services Inc. and Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT)

Google debuted plans in December to spend more than $1 billion on a new campus in New York City. (See Google Splashes $1B on New York Expansion.)

It plans to occupy a 35-story tower in downtown Austin, Texas, leasing the entire building, which is under construction, according to a report in the Austin Statesman.

Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) in November revealed that it selected New York City and Arlington, Virginia, as headquarters for the company's new headquarters, investing $5 billion, with a new location in Nashville as well. (See Amazon Selects NYC & Northern Virginia for New HQ.)

Amazon is reconsidering its New York plans, following political and community opposition, the Washington Post reported.

And Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) plans to build a $1 billion campus in Austin, part of a nationwide expansion that includes a five-year, $10 billion data center investment. (See Apple to Build $1B Austin Campus & $10B Nationwide Data Center Expansion.)

— Mitch Wagner Executive Editor, Light Reading