Google to Build Data Center in N.C.

By ELIZABETH DUNBAR

RALEIGH, N.C. – Search engine giant Google Inc. plans to spend $600 million to build a data center in North Carolina, state officials and the company said Friday.

The so-called "server farm" will eventually employ 210 people in a region hit hard in recent years by layoffs in the furniture and textile industries.

"This company will provide hundreds of good-paying, knowledge-based jobs that North Carolinas citizens want," Gov. Mike Easley said in a statement. "It will help reinvigorate an area hard hit by the loss of furniture and textile jobs with 21st century opportunities."

The state will give the company $4.8 million as part of a total incentives package that could reach more than $100 million.