Alphabet Inc’s Google is reportedly seekig to buy a plot in Yunlin County to build a new data center, local media reports said yesterday, without citing sources.
Google currently has two data centers already in Asia, one in Singapore and one in Changhua county, Taiwan.
Earlier yesterday, the Chinese-language Economic Daily News cited unnamed county officials as saying that Google had bought a NT$3.64 billion (US$123.33 million) plot at the Yunlin Technology-based Industrial Park (雲林科技工業區).
Photo: AFP
As of press time last night, Google, the county government and China Man-made Fiber Corp (中國人造纖維), the seller of the property, had not made official comments.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs said it would not comment on the investments of individual companies.
“Google’s official response is that they do not comment on this,” Jonathan Seidman of One for All, Google’s public relations agency for Taiwan, said in an e-mailed statement to the Taipei Times.
A regulatory filing by China Man-made Fiber on Wednesday last week said that the 60,000-ping (198,347m2) plot, which consisted of six parcels of land, was sold to Beckett Enterprises LLC.
The Chinese-language Liberty Times (the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) yesterday quoted Yunlin Technology-based Industrial Park chairman Andy Su (蘇振毅) as saying that “a global, heavyweight tech company” had been at the park to assess its suitability, including its geological structure.
Asked if the buyer was Google, Su told the Liberty Times that he could not answer because of confidentiality reasons.
The report also quoted Yunlin County Commissioner Chang Li-shan (張麗善) as saying that confidentiality agreements might prevent relevant parties from announcing their part in the deal until all the deeds have been transferred.
She added that Yunlin welcomes all investors, the report said.
Google’s potential investment in a new data center, if confirmed, could be as high as NT$20 billion, local media quoted industry sources as saying.
CORRECTION: This story has been modified since it was first published, which incorrectly stated that Google has two data centers in Taiwan. The search engine giant only operates one in the nation’s Changhua County.
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