Google has revealed plans to build a new data center in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, UK, as part of its ongoing commitment to increasing the computing power that underpins many of its products.
The 33-acre site, which Google purchased in October 2020, will be used to power digital services such as Google Cloud, Search, Maps and Google Workspace, which includes the company's free office apps and Gmail.
The investment, said to be worth $1 billion (£789 million), is expected to bring a host of new jobs to the area and help the wider UK economy. Google already employs around 7,000 workers in the UK.
Google's billion-dollar data center to be built in Hertfordshire, UK
Ruth Porat, CFO of Alphabet and Google, emphasized the critical role of data centers in powering widely used services like Google Workspace. She added:
“This new data center will help meet growing demand for our AI and cloud services and provide crucial computing capacity to businesses across the UK, while creating technical and construction jobs for the local community.”
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak praised the investment, adding: “Foreign investment creates jobs and grows all regions of our economy and investments like this will help drive growth over the next decade.”
Google's commitment to sustainability was also evident in its announcement, with the company claiming to have some of the most efficient data centers in the world.
The company plans to run all of its data centers and campuses on renewable energy and has already announced its power purchase agreement for offshore wind in Scotland, which represents around 100 MW of clean energy.
As construction progresses, Google has confirmed that its new Hertfordshire data center will feature off-site heat recovery as well as an air cooling system, reducing the site's reliance on water as a natural resource.
