Google is investing a further $1 billion in its data center campuses in Virginia.

Shortly after the company announced it would be investing $2 billion in developing a new data center campus in Fort Wayne, Google has shared that it will be spending an additional $1bn on its existing data center campuses in Virginia.

Google currently has three data center campuses in Virginia, two in Loudoun County and one in Prince William County, the latter of which was built in 2023. According to the company, this latest investment will bring its total spend in the state up to $4.2 billion.

“The investments we’ve made today are not only important investments in infrastructure, but they’ve also added 3,500 jobs in Virginia, and they’ve supported $1 billion of economic activity, and we look forward to continuing to build on the work that we’ve done today,” said Ruth Porat, Google and Alphabet’s president, chief investment officer and chief financial officer.

The latest investment will go to expanding Google's existing data centers, but it seems the company has plans for further data centers in Prince William County. In March 2024, a Google-linked company, Sharpless Enterprises, got approval for an 181-acre data center campus in Bristow, Virginia.

Other news in Virginia's data center market

• Prince William County's planning commission has recommended the denial of an application unanimously to turn Colchester Industrial Park on Dumfries Road into a data center complex. The request requires rezoning around 40 acres of agricultural land to light industrial. The parcel resides within the data center opportunity zone overlay district, but that only allows for data centers to be 60 ft tall. The applicant is asking to build three 95-ft data centers. A final vote will be taken by the Board of County Supervisors on June 4th.

• Chuck Kuhn's proposal for redeveloping the Westpark Golf Club in Leesburg, Virginia, will not include a data center. Following a recommendation for denial by the planning commission to rezone the property from B-3 District to Planned Development Employment Center District with the potential of developing a data center, Kuhn has reassured that the project will now only consist of "flex industrial buildings" when it goes to vote.

• Warrenton Town staff has approved the site plans for Amazon's 220,000 sq ft (20,439 sqm) data center, located on a 42-acre plot of land at the intersection of Blackwell Road and Lee Highway. The proposal must still go through steps including securing entitlements and obtaining construction permits before it will be able to go ahead. The company first got approval for the project in February 2023.

• Charles City County's planning commission and board of supervisors have passed "text amendments" that will enable data centers to be developed in light industrial, heavy industrial, and planned industrial park districts. In particular, the county is targeting Roxbury Industrial Park for data center developments.

• Prince William County is set to hike up taxes on data centers. During a recent Board of County Supervisors meeting, the tax rate for data centers was increased to $3.70 per $100 of assessed value Computer and Peripheral tax, following a vote that passed seven-one. This is the second increase in two years and is up from $1.80 in 2022. Real estate tax has also been increased to 92 cents per $100 assessed value. The combination of these two tax increases will reduce that of residents' real estate tax by around $240.