In 2013, billion-dollar data centers were rising in places such as Council Bluffs, Iowa; Boydton, Virginia; Quincy, Washington; and small towns in North Carolina and Oregon. Companies chose these locations for inexpensive land and electricity, while host communities saw major construction projects and, in some cases, a larger tax base—but relatively few permanent jobs.
Where were the billion-dollar data centers?
Rich Miller’s April 29, 2013, Data Center Knowledge feature described a wave of large U.S. campuses built by technology companies and, in one case, the National Security Agency. The investment and operating details below are historical figures reported in that article, not current totals.
| Location | Operator and reported scale in 2013 | What stood out |
|---|---|---|
| Maiden, North Carolina | Apple | The company’s first purpose-built data center began with a 500,000-square-foot main building and a 30,000-square-foot tactical data center. The site also included solar arrays and a fuel-cell farm. |
| Council Bluffs, Iowa | Google: reported investment above $1.5 billion | Google announced an initial $600 million investment in 2007. Three expansion rounds had brought reported investment above $1.5 billion by 2013. |
| Boydton, Virginia | Microsoft: reported investment of $997 million | The campus had further phases planned. The article cited a town population of 431 in the 2010 census. |
| Bluffdale, Utah | NSA: project above $1 billion | The first phase was described as 30 megawatts, with 100,000 square feet of data-center space and 900,000 square feet for technical and administrative support. |
| Lenoir, North Carolina | Google: reported investment above $1.2 billion | Google opened a $600 million center in 2007. By April 2013, reported investment had grown above $1.2 billion; the article said the site had more than 50,000 servers. |
| Quincy, Washington | Microsoft, Yahoo, Sabey, Dell, Intuit, and Vantage | The cluster’s likely combined investment exceeded $1 billion. Inexpensive hydroelectric power and a climate suitable for fresh-air cooling helped attract operators. |
| Prineville, Oregon | Facebook and Apple | Facebook’s first company-built data center and Apple’s planned facility put the town among the locations in the article’s account of the data-center boom. |
These projects differed in operator and purpose: most supported commercial cloud or internet services, while the Bluffdale facility was a government project. Their shared feature was scale—the land, power systems, buildings, and equipment needed to run large computing operations.
Why did companies build them in small towns?
“The economics of hyper-scale computing favor cheap land and cheap electricity,” Miller wrote. Large campuses need enough land for buildings and supporting infrastructure, plus abundant, reliable power at a cost that makes continuous operation viable. Tax incentives could further reduce project costs.
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Climate could matter, too. Where outdoor conditions allowed it, operators could use outside air to help cool equipment instead of relying as heavily on energy-intensive chillers. Quincy’s cool climate and inexpensive hydroelectricity were cited as advantages. These factors help explain why a rural or smaller-town site could make economic sense even when a major population center was nearby.
What does a data center campus contain?
A data center is not simply a warehouse full of computers. The servers are only one part of an industrial-scale facility. It also needs systems to keep equipment powered, cooled, and available.
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- Servers and data-center space: the computing equipment and buildings that house it.
- Electricity and backup power: a large, dependable power supply, supported by equipment such as generators and uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems.
- Cooling: systems to remove heat, potentially supplemented by outside air where the local climate permits.
- Land and supporting infrastructure: room for the campus and its technical and administrative functions. Maiden’s solar arrays and fuel-cell farm illustrate additional energy infrastructure described in the 2013 feature.
The Bluffdale figures show why a project’s overall footprint and its data-center floor area are not interchangeable: the article separated 100,000 square feet of data-center space from 900,000 square feet for technical and administrative support.
Do data centers create jobs?
Yes, but the employment effect is uneven over time. Building a campus can generate hundreds of construction jobs, according to Miller, but that work is temporary. Once a facility is operating, automation means it needs relatively few permanent full-time employees compared with the scale of its investment and construction workforce.
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That distinction matters when judging a project’s local economic value. A large announced investment is not the same as a large ongoing payroll: much of the capital is tied up in servers, generators, UPS equipment, buildings, and other infrastructure. The project may still provide meaningful economic benefits, but the headline investment figure alone does not reveal how many lasting local jobs it supports.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What did host communities gain?
Quincy offered the clearest example in the 2013 article of a potential fiscal benefit. The reported property-tax base rose from $260 million in 2006 to $764 million in 2009. Over that period, property-tax collections increased by more than $1.4 million, and school taxes increased by $1.6 million. These are historical figures reported by Data Center Knowledge, not current Quincy tax totals.
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The article said the additional revenue supported local public facilities and services, including the library, senior center, museum, playground equipment, police and fire equipment, and emergency medical services. The example shows how a data-center cluster can matter to a community through its tax base as well as through construction activity. The scale of the fiscal benefit will depend on local tax arrangements and the projects actually built; the Quincy figures should not be treated as a guarantee for other towns.
Source for the historical facility, investment, employment, and Quincy figures: Rich Miller, “The Billion Dollar Data Centers,” Data Center Knowledge, April 29, 2013.
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