Amazon Web Services plans $11B data center campus near South Bend
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Amazon Web Services plans to invest $11 billion to build a data center in St. Joseph County, which the state said Thursday is the largest planned capital investment in Indiana’s history.
AWS will create at least 1,000 jobs at the campus in New Carlisle, about 10 miles west of South Bend. The project will be built in the community’s Indiana Enterprise Center.
“Amazon has long been an important economic partner in Indiana, and we are excited to welcome AWS,” Gov. Eric Holcomb said in a statement. “This significant investment solidifies Indiana’s leadership position in the economy of the future and will undoubtedly have a positive ripple effect on the town of New Carlisle, the north central region and the state of Indiana for years to come.”
The state’s job creation agency—the Indiana Economic Development Corp.—will provide nearly $150 million in performance-based incentives for the project, meaning the company can only claim the incentives once it has made promised investments.
The project also qualifies for Indiana’s data center sale tax exemption, which means AWS won’t have to pay the state’s sales tax on the purchase of the computers, servers and software in the data center or on the electricity used in running that equipment.
Since the Indiana General Assembly created the sales tax exemption in 2019, at least eight data center projects have been announced across Indiana, including four now since October. Amazon announced in December it would build an $87 million data center in the Ameriplex at the Port business park in Portage.
Google is planning an $845 million data center project in southeast Fort Wayne, while Meta Platforms Inc., the parent of Facebook and Instagram, said in January that it would invest $800 million to establish a data center campus at River Ridge Commerce Center in Jeffersonville and create 100 jobs.
Indiana Commerce Secretary David Rosenberg told IBJ on Thursday that persuading AWS to invest in the state took time and significant effort.
“I think, initially, when the company was starting to look at states, I don’t know that Indiana was at the top of their list,” Rosenberg said. “But because of the aggressive nature of how we were pursuing these types of companies—and, also, the Legislature passing really strong legislation created for data centers—that put Indiana in a really strong position to really go after this.”
The AWS data centers at New Carlisle will contain computer servers, data storage drives, networking equipment, and other forms of technology infrastructure used to power cloud computing capabilities and generative artificial intelligence technologies, the state said.
The announcement is also another big win for the tiny New Carlisle, which has a population of roughly 2000, according to the latest U.S. Census data. Last year, Samsung SDI and General Motors announced they would invest $3 billion to establish an electric vehicle batter plant in the community and create 1,700 jobs.
“The AWS announcement today will be a generational boost to our local and regional economy, and we are excited for the opportunity to welcome the AWS team and workforce into our community,” said St. Joseph County Commissioner Carl Baxmeyer.
In addition to the sales tax incentive, which has a value that is hard to calculate, the IEDC is committing up to $18.3 million in tax credits based on the workers hired, $5 million in training grants, $55 million in Hoosier Business Investment tax credits and $20 million in redevelopment tax credits.
The state said AWS also plans to invest $7 million to support road infrastructure improvements along State Road 2 surrounding the planned development.
“We are thrilled to be expanding our operations in Indiana through this planned $11 billion investment, which will create numerous well-paying job opportunities and tap into the state’s burgeoning tech sector, while contributing significantly to the state’s growing economy,” said Roger Wehner, AWS director of economic development, in a statement released by the Governor’s Office. “This investment will include our continuing commitment to fostering workforce development and educational initiatives in areas where we operate, and we look forward to helping nurture the next generation of talent in the Hoosier State.”
Rosenberg said the AWS deal is among a record $20.6 billion in capital investment commitments made in the first quarter, and marks the start of a 36-hour span in which more than $14 billion in investment will be announced. It also eclipses the $4 billion SK Hynix deal in West Lafayette—announced two weeks ago—as the largest economic development investment in the state’s history.
He said the project is part of the state’s larger strategy to build a technology-friendly business ecosystem and lead the country in next generation artificial intelligence technologies.
“We’re truly building out an entire ecosystem that we can use to drive the state’s economy for the next 50 years,” he said.