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Today, we think of nothing of sending a quick email, searching and browsing the internet, enjoying online shopping, or storing and sharing photos and videos.
But a vast physical network of data centers (also known as server farms) - full of servers and storage capacity - around the world is needed to support the explosion in the use of the internet.
The Tahoe Reno Industrial Center site, perhaps more famous for being home to the Tesla Gigafactory, a battery manufacturing plant, is also home to many data centers - Apple, Switch, RackSpace and a myriad of other companies have large data centers in the Nevada desert near Reno.
Someone once said that data storage companies are like geese. There's a flock flying over, they see a little field down below, one goose will come down, and if it doesn't get shot, the others follow. Once one company has a good experience, the rest of them flock in, and that's exactly what happened here.
Google's Northern Nevada facility is shaping up to be a large undertaking as construction picks up at the 1,210-acre site inside Tahoe Reno Industrial Center.
Located on USA Parkway just a few miles south of the Switch Citadel data center campus and Tesla Gigafactory near Reno - Google bought the land for $29.1 million in April 2017.
"This is a very good deal for Nevada," said Michael Brown, the director of the development board. "In return for the $25 million abatement that Google will receive, the company will make a $427 million impact on the economy over 20 years and generate $94 million in tax revenue over 20 years."
Colorful pipes carry water in and out of Google's data center. The blue pipes supply cold water and the red pipes return the warm water back to be cooled.
"This decision further demonstrates Nevada's commitment to technology and business growth," said Andrew Silvestri, head of data center public policy and community development for Google. "With our new data center in Storey County and our expanded investment in our Henderson site, Google will have two facilities in Nevada, bringing our total investment to over $1.88 billion."
Sisolak was joined by seven members of the Governor's Office of Economic Development board in approving more than $25 million in incentives for a data center for for Google products and services in Storey County just west of Reno. The data center is expected to be fully operational in 2021.
The board approved $8.6 million in incentives as well for Lithium Nevada Corp., for its Thacker Pass project in Humboldt County. The project is expected to create more than 100 jobs with an average wage of $37.84 per hour. Supporters of the project - which will extract and process lithium - hope that it would turn Nevada into a global player as renewable technologies such as electric vehicles gain more acceptance.
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