microsoft announces extensive data center project

Responding to an ever-increasing demand for more internet and cloud services in the Western states, the Microsoft Corporation has announced plans to build three new data center campuses in southern Arizona.

Two of the new campuses, according to the Redmond, Washington-based technology giant, are slated for construction in the city of Goodyear, with the third in El Mirage.

The announcement is seen as a big win for state and local officials who have recently been in talks with Microsoft in the hope of securing the three-campus project.

Brian Janous, a sustainability and energy general manager for Microsoft, said that the corporation decided to build the campuses in Arizona because the state has increasingly embraced “the technology industry with a pool of growing talent.”

Microsoft additionally announced that the new centers built on the three campuses will be powered entirely by renewable energy sources.

Earlier this year, members of the Goodyear City Council gave the green light to a development agreement allowing Microsoft to build two new data facilities on land that the corporation owns near the Phoenix Goodyear Airport.

Leading up to the three-campus announcement, Microsoft in late April also completed a deal purchasing just over 150 acres in El Mirage for $20.3 million to be used for the construction of at least one new data center.

By Garry Boulard

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