Narayan AmmachchiGoogle has reportedly agreed to build a mega data center in Uruguay’s southern city of Canelones – the second project of this kind in Latin America.
The local government has offered 20 acres of land in its free zone, also known as Science Park, according to Uruguayan paper El Observador. Google’s other data center in the region is located in Chile.
The report says the Uruguayan government lobbied hard for the data center. The country’s former minister Carolina Cosse visited Google’s headquarters in the U.S. Silicon Valley in a bid to persuade the company’s senior executives.
The search engine giant had in fact chosen Uruguay for setting up its first data center itself, but it shelved its plan after realizing that the country had fewer skilled professionals to operate the facility.
El Observador has not informed about the project cost or the date of construction but it has made it clear that the government had already approved Google’s proposal.
The primary reason behind choosing Uruguay is Tannat submarine fiber optic cable, which the Uruguayan state-run telecom firm Antel rolled out with the help of Google.
The cable network connects Uruguay’s Punta del Este with the US state of Florida through the Brazilian industrial hub of Fortaleza.
Although home to barely 3.5 million people, Uruguay is one of the major software exporters in Latin America. The country’s IT industry has employed more than 12,500 people and represents over US$800 million in annual export business.
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