Google says its data centers contribute to local economy in several U.S. states

SAN FRANCISCO, April 23 (Xinhua) -- U.S. tech giant Google said Monday that its six data centers, including the original one in the U.S. west state of Oregon, have produced great positive economic impact on local economy in those states.

In a report released Monday, Google highlighted the economic contributions and community benefits to those regions generated by the data centers set up in Oregon and five other states.

"Google data centers support nearly 11,000 jobs throughout the U.S. economy" while 1,900 workers were directly employed in those locations, said the Google report.

The Silicon Valley-based company said it has invested 10.5 billion U.S. dollars building data centers across the country since 2006, when it opened its Oregon location in Dalles, the largest city of Wasco County in Oregon.

Google was the first of several large data hosting companies to capitalize on Oregon's relatively low power costs and uniquely advantageous tax structure.

It opened its third data center in the Dalles in February of 2006, where Google has invested 1.8 billion dollars in buying thousands of servers to host Gmail, photos, movies and corporate data. About 200 people are currently working at the location.

Google's rivals such as Apple, Facebook and Amazon also have established data centers in Oregon, which is appealing to tech companies for the absence of a state sales tax.

The Oregonian daily said that Wasco County put Google's property tax breaks at about 140 million dollars, an amount that has been saved since the data center was opened in 2006.

Google said its data centers "significantly contribute to the growth of jobs, income, and economic activity in each state where a campus is located."

The bigger the data center, the bigger economic benefits will be yielded to the state hosting the facility, Google said.

In Wasco County, about 10,640 jobs were created in connection with the Google data center business, according to the Oregon Employment Department.

Apart from Oregon, Google also operates data centers in the states of Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Iowa and Oklahoma. Enditem