State officials along with Google officials announced that the web company has purchased the Clarksville Hemlock Semiconductor site.
The building will be transformed into a Google data center. It will be their eighth data center in the U.S. and 15th around the world.
Google officials said they plan to invest $600 million into the project, which will bring 70 new jobs to the area.
Governor Bill Haslam said he was glad to give the company a home right here in Tennessee.
“We are grateful for Google’s significant investment in Tennessee and the new jobs that will be created in Montgomery County,” Haslam said. “This is one of the world’s most well-known brands, so it says a lot for our state that it will soon be home to Google’s eighth U.S. data center. We welcome Google to Tennessee and look forward to building a strong partnership with the company in the years to come.”
Google officials shared Haslam’s sentiment and said they were excited for what they have in store for the building and the state.
“This site comes with the benefits of existing infrastructure, which we plan to reuse and recycle – for example, many of the office buildings will be used for Googlers when the data center is operational,” said Google Vice President for Data Center Operations, Joe Kava. “At the same time, we have room to innovate and grow both as a data center and as a member of the Montgomery County community. We’re excited about the opportunity to experiment with new kinds of technology and design an impressive facility – we can’t wait!”
The Hemlock Semiconductor site was announced and built in 2008, but never produced any of its intended products, solar panels, because of issues in the polysilicon industry.
Thus, it was permanently closed years later in 2014.
