Google Buys Land In Uruguay For A Second LatAm DC
By Narayan Ammachchi
June 4, 2021
By Narayan AmmachchiGoogle has acquired 30 hectares of land at a duty-free tax zone in Canelones, Uruguay to build a data center.
This will be the Silicon Valley firm’s second data center in Latin America, with the first one located in Santiago, Chile.
The search engine giant has confirmed that it bought the land through its local subsidiary Eleanor Applications SRL, without disclosing how much it paid for the property.
A local news outlet, El Observador, reported that Google might have paid US$818,000 for the plot. The Spanish publication went on to say the Silicon Valley firm would invest US$100 million in the country.
Google thought about building a data center in Uruguay in 2013, but it changed its mind and chose Chile instead. It once again initiated talks with the Uruguayan government following its deal with local telecom firm Antel to build a submarine cable system (Tannat) that linked Uruguay with Brazil, Argentina, and the US state of Florida.
Active since 2018, the cable system has landing points in Uruguay’s Maldonado, which is barely 146 km from Canelones. The cable system makes it easier for Google to optimize latency and availability.
Uruguay is free of gang violence and is known for political stability and a friendly business environment. Moreover, the country has relatively low tax rates compared to many of its neighbors.
Data centers of this kind help Google build capacity for its research activities in artificial intelligence and machine learning.
