Gov. Bev Perdue announced today that Facebook, the world’s leading social networking service connecting more than 500 million people, will locate a multi-million dollar data center near Forest City in Rutherford County.
The facility is expected to create more than 250 construction and mechanical jobs during its 18-month building phase. When construction is completed, the data center will employ around 35-45 full-time and contract workers. Facebook is expected to invest about $450 million dollars in the new data center. Additional construction phases may be possible in the future, depending on business needs.
“We are proud that Facebook chose to make North Carolina a ‘friend.’ The feeling is certainly mutual,” said Gov. Perdue. “You can’t pick up a newspaper, read a magazine or flip on the television without hearing more great news about our state. The investment and jobs at the data center will be a boon to that region of the state, and will help confirm North Carolina’s distinction as a global business destination.”
Perdue said the state has been working with Facebook’s representatives for about a year to help bring together the land, utilities and incentives to make the project a success. North Carolina has become a destination for data center projects including previous announcements by Apple, Google and IBM.
“After a rigorous review of sites across the East Coast, we are pleased to locate our new data center in Rutherford County. The team we will hire here will help us provide faster, more reliable and more robust service to people around the world who rely on Facebook to connect and share,” said Tom Furlong, Director of Site Operations for Facebook. “We are very grateful to the officials in Rutherford County and the State of North Carolina whose time, effort and commitment were instrumental in making this happen.”
In keeping with North Carolina’s growing reputation for environmental leadership, the building will be designed to LEED gold standards. In addition, Facebook will employ innovative cooling and power management technologies to make the facility one of the most energy efficient data centers in the United States. Facebook is also a leading pioneer in efficient software and facility will use technologies developed by Facebook to rely on fewer than half the computing power (and related energy consumption) that a similar data center would have required only a few years ago.
“This is a shining example of the public and private sectors working together to create new opportunities for North Carolina communities,” said Lt. Governor Walter Dalton, a native of Rutherford County. “As the national press has indicated, North Carolina is helping to lead the nation out of the Great Recession. When it comes to this growing field and so many others, North Carolina is open for business.”
North Carolina continues to have a top-ranked business climate. Through Gov. Perdue’s JobsNOW initiative, the state works aggressively to create jobs, train and retrain its workforce, and lay the foundation for a strong and sustainable economic future.
Other partners that helped with this project include: the N.C. Department of Commerce, N.C. Community Colleges, Rutherford County, the town of Forest City, and the N.C. Rural Economic Development Center.
More information about the project as well as ongoing updates will be available at: Facebook.com/rutherforddatacenter.
For groundbreaking event photography and Rutherford County Data Center architectural renderings, please call Billy Warden, 919.412.0630 or Greg Behr, 919.272.5621.
Follow Gov. Perdue on Facebook.