Google (News - Alert) plans to build a new data center in Taiwan, the third of its kind in Asia, to help meet the increasing demand for Google products and Internet usage. This will be the third data center in Asia, with the other two located in Hong Kong and Singapore. Google’s investment totals $700 million.
“The new data center has a planned completion date of 2013. It will be located in Taiwan’s Changhua county. The new facility is meant to help Google maximize the great potential of Internet usage in the Asian region,” stated Daniel Alegre, president of Google Asian-Pacific.
Alegre told the Associated Press (News - Alert), “More new Internet users are coming online everyday here in Asia than anywhere else in the world. They are looking for information and entertainment, new business opportunities and better ways to connect with friends and family.”
Asia has more Internet users than any other region on the planet, according to Internet World Stats. According to its December, 2011 survey, the number of Asian Internet users represents nearly 45 percent of all Internet users worldwide compared to just 12 percent in North America and 22.1 percent in Europe.
Google will have 11 data centers worldwide, including six in the US, two in Europe and soon to be three in Asia. Each of these data centers is packed full of powerful Google servers designed to send and receive Internet traffic and deliver Google products efficiently to the surrounding regions.
The new data center features an environmentally-friendly design. It uses water cooled down during the nighttime to cool the facility during the daytime, particularly during the hot summer months.