Google revealed its plans on Wednesday for its long-awaited large data center campus in southeast Mesa.
Early construction started on Google's data center nearly two months ago on the northwest corner of Sossaman and Elliot roads. On Wednesday, Google was joined by Gov. Katie Hobbs, Mesa Mayor John Giles, Rep. Greg Stanton and other community leaders to draw attention to the data center project, which represents an investment of about $600 million by the company.
The data center, which will be air-cooled, will power the company's consumer-facing tools including Search, Gmail, Maps, Google Cloud and ongoing artificial intelligence innovation.
The company began construction on the data center in July, though no timeline for completion was offered at the time.
Joe Kava, Google's VP of Data Centers, said Google expects to start building vertically near the beginning of 2024 and be completed by early 2025. The company is also looking to buy other large parcels of land that it can grow into over the years.
According to a site plan, the first phase calls for a 288,530-square-foot data center building with a utility switchyard, a medium voltage substation that services the data center, a security kiosk, public road improvements and an employee office building, according to project documents.
Kava said about 1,200 construction workers will be on-site working to build out the data center.
Google had signed a 25-year government property lease excise tax, or GPLET, with the city of Mesa in July 2019 to assist in purchasing the more than 185 acres for the data center. The GPLET agreement put Google on the clock to complete the construction of the first phase of the data center by July 2025.
Per a development agreement with Mesa, Google must also spend $600 million in capital expenditures by then, which matches the value of the data center that Google announced on Wednesday.
Google also announced that the Valley will be home to a Google Cloud region, joining nine other markets in the country. Google expects the Cloud will help local customers, which range from businesses of all sizes to public sector entities, in delivering digital services more reliably and at higher speeds.
Future performance metrics at the Google campus include:
Kava said Google wanted to build a data center in Mesa because of available land, a talented workforce and because it felt welcomed by local and state officials.
"Google's investment in Arizona will be critical for the Mesa community and our state's economy,” Hobbs said in a statement. “Arizona continues to attract global technology leaders due to our skilled workforce, dynamic economy and focus on innovation. We are proud to welcome Google to Arizona and look forward to the many opportunities this partnership will bring.”
The city of Mesa and Google worked with the Salt River Project, Arizona Commerce Authority and Greater Phoenix Economic Council for nearly a year before Mesa City Council unanimously approved the deal in July 2019, according to previous reporting.
Google will join other major employers including Apple and Meta Platforms Inc. that already have data centers within Mesa's Elliot Road Technology Corridor.
Other companies such as Virginia-based EdgeConneX, Utah-based Novva Data Centers and others have their eyes on developing data centers throughout Mesa.
Bill Jabjiniak, Mesa's economic development director, said the city's infrastructure has attracted data center companies, particularly from colocate ones that provide space for several users, which is unlike the data center Google is building.
Jabjiniak said, moving forward, there could be a slowdown in data center expansions within Mesa as there will be a preference by the city for developments that will bring more jobs.
"The council has set a strategic direction for me to really focus on more jobs and high-quality jobs," he said.
Giles reiterated that the explosion of data center development in Mesa will likely be reined in overtime in favor of advanced manufacturing jobs that assist in the supply chain for chip and electric vehicle manufacturing.