Billion-dollar Google data center project coming to North Texas

Wide open spaces, low taxes and few regulations are all factors that convince data center companies to locate in North Texas – most recently Google. On Thursday morning, Google announced a new billion-dollar project in Midlothian.

Google has designated North Texas, centered around Red Oak and Midlothian, as a “Google Cloud Region” in 2022, meaning more data centers will be built there.

“We look at things like the talent in the region, the land, your electrical infrastructure. And a big part of that is a community that wants to partner with us,” said Yolande Piazza, vice president of financial services at Google Cloud.

Piazza made the announcement Thursday morning along with local politicians as well as Senator Ted Cruz (R) of Texas and Congressman Jake Ellzey (R) of Midlothian.

New data centers south of the metroplex will provide the computing power behind artificial intelligence, Google Maps and Google Cloud.

These data centers consume vast amounts of energy, and some state leaders have taken a close look at the large facilities. Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick questioned earlier this summer whether the state needs power-hungry data centers that consume energy when ERCOT's power grid is stretched to its limits on hot summer days.

“We work with them when we see pressure on the network. How do we manage our performance? It's a collaboration. And we're very conscious that we have to be as responsible as anyone else in this space,” Piazza said.

Senator Ted Cruz told the crowd gathered at Google's offices on Thursday that he believes the impact of artificial intelligence could be as great as the Internet revolution in the 1990s.

“The result was incredible. The wealth, the prosperity and the jobs,” said Senator Cruz.

There is no set total number of jobs for the project yet, but Cruz and Google leadership expect it to be hundreds of full-time employees.

“We have an environment of low taxes, low, reasonable and predictable regulations. We have an environment that supports innovation. And we must continue to do that,” Cruz said.

This billion-dollar project brings Google's total investment to $2.7 billion, including a $330 million project in nearby Red Oak.