The county now has more than 3.5 million square-feet of data center space.
According to Prince William County’s Department of Economic Development, the county has the world’s “densest cluster of data centers”.
The data center industry in Prince William County has brought in 31 economic development projects, bringing $6.2 billion in capital investment and 912 jobs, according to a release.
The county has even designated 10,000 acres as areas of data center-friendly space, called Data Center Opportunity Zone Overlay Districts.
“This is a high-performing growth industry that supports high-paying STEM-related jobs and a talent pipeline for other fast growing enterprises. The ever increasing demand for data at the speed of light now transcends every aspect of everyday life – from appointment-setting to video-watching – and it is this demand that continues to drive industry momentum,” stated Prince William County Department of Economic Development Executive Director Jeffrey Kaczmarek in a release.
According to a release, $4.30 in tax revenue comes to the county for every $1 the county spends on the services data centers require.
More on the data center market, from a release:
As of December 2016, Northern Virginia leads the North America Data Center Market with over 30% of the market share and a record of 113.0 Mega-Watts (MW) absorption of the total 357.85 MW in the top U.S. markets, according to JLL’s 2017 Data Center Outlook; nearly double that of the nearest competing market – Northern California at 59.1 MW. Further, the region is also set to achieve the fifth straight year of virtual market equilibrium as demand closely matches new supply coming online. However, JLL’s Outlook also notes “…some major cloud providers are anticipating they will need to triple infrastructure by 2020.” An indication that the industry in the region and in Prince William County will continue along its positive trajectory.
