microsoft is building four data centers in North Carolina (United States)as part of a phased development project that will invest a minimum of 1,000 million dollars over the next decade, according to The Register.
Microsoft’s data centers will be in Catawba County, with locations in Conover, Maiden, and two in Hickory. During its construction, a minimum of 50 jobs will be created. Economic development agreements, as well as various incentives, for the project are already approved.
These include a minimum guaranteed investment of 1,000 million, to be carried out by Microsoft, for 10 years in Catawba County. Each municipality in which one of the aforementioned data centers is built will receive 332 million dollars. Hickory will receive another 33 million dollars, since two data centers will be built in the town.
Microsoft will have grants and incentives, based on performance, of about 50% of the actual value of the properties in which the data centers are built, and 85 percent of the value of personal property, throughout of the next decade. This means that for the next 10 years, local governments will basically return that proportion of Microsoft’s property taxes.
Paul Engils, Director of Community Engagement at Microsofthas pointed out that the step has demonstrated the company’s long-term commitment to the local community, with a project that they consider one of the interesting development projects that they want to attract to the area.
For now, the exact capacity that the data centers will have when construction is complete is unknown, although it is most likely that they will serve as additional space for Microsoft’s cloud, Azure. Currently, Microsoft already has more than 200 data centers around the world. Last year the company confirmed that it had plans to build new facilities in at least a dozen countries. He also said that he intended to build between 50 and 100 data centers each year, at least in the short term.
