Google announced Wednesday that it has broken ground on a $600 million data center in Mesa.
The data center, Google’s first physical presence in Arizona, will help power services like search, maps and Gmail. In exchange for Google turning nearly 190 acres of former farmland into a computing compound, Mesa will provide $16 million in property tax breaks over 25 years.
Nationally, data centers are among the top commercial water users, but Google says it will not rely on a water cooling system in Mesa. Instead, air-cooled technology will be used.
While data centers don’t employ a lot of people, the company said more than a thousand construction workers will be needed for the first phase, which is expected to be finished in summer 2025.
