Amazon Web Services plans to invest $35 billion to create several data center campuses throughout Virginia, according to an announcement from Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s office on Friday. The expansion is expected to be complete by 2040, and multiple localities are being considered as possible locations, although the placement of the campuses has not yet been determined.
This deal comes at a time when several Northern Virginia community members have expressed resistance to the growing presence of data centers in the region, and just weeks after Virginia state Sen. Chap Peterson proposed a bill that would limit the areas where data centers can be built.
Youngkin expressed his support for the AWS expansion and for continued growth of data centers in the state, noting that the plan is expected to create approximately 1,000 new jobs.
“Virginia will continue to encourage the development of this new generation of data center campuses across multiple regions of the Commonwealth,” Youngkin said in the press release. “These areas offer robust utility infrastructure, lower costs, great livability, and highly educated workforces and will benefit from the associated economic development and increased tax base, assisting the schools and providing services to the community.”
The Virginia Economic Development Partnership and the General Assembly’s Major Employment and Investment Project Approval Commission worked together to secure the project.
“I am pleased the MEI Commission could collaborate with our state and private-sector partners to ensure AWS selected the Commonwealth for this important project,” said Major Employment and Investment Project Approval Commission Chair Delegate Barry Knight. “The addition of multiple data center campuses will underscore Virginia’s position as the world’s largest data center market segment, and we thank AWS for its long-term commitment to the Commonwealth.”
Some factors that influenced the project’s finalization are still contingent on approval from the Virginia General Assembly, including the development of a new Mega Data Center Incentive program, which would include a 15-year extension of tax exemptions on equipment and software related to data use operations.
AWS would also be eligible to receive an MEI custom performance grant of up to $140 million, which is also subject to approval form the General Assembly, for project-related costs like workforce development and site and infrastructure improvements.
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