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

FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Google plans to invest $2 billion to build a data center in northeastern Indiana that will support its artificial intelligence technology and cloud operations, company and state officials said Friday.

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

The data center in the city, about 120 miles northeast of Indianapolis, will support Google’s “AI innovations and growing Google Cloud business for customers around 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 around the world that “keep the internet running” 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 in our business and consumer services,” said Joe Kava, Google vice president of data centers.

Friday’s announcement came a 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 city of New Carlisle, about 15 miles away. west of South Bend. This project is expected to create at least a thousand jobs.