Google touts $1.8B investment in The Dalles data center

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Google has issued a report highlighting the economic contributions of its six U.S. data centers, including its original facility in The Dalles.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports the Silicon Valley company said Monday it has invested $10.5 billion building data centers across the country since 2006, when it opened its Oregon location along the Columbia River. The company was the first of several large data hosting companies to capitalize on Oregon’s relatively low power costs and uniquely advantageous tax structure.

Google opened its third data center in The Dalles in February and now employs 200 there, according to the report. It has invested $1.8 billion altogether, mostly to buy thousands of pricey servers to host Gmail, photos, movies and untold terabytes of corporate data.