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Microsoft Corp. will open a new data center in the state, Gov. Chet Culver said Tuesday.
The center will be built in the Des Moines area, although the specific site has not been chosen, said Stephanie Bjornson of the Iowa Department of Economic Development.
The announcement came a year after Google, an Internet search company, announced plans to build a server farm in Council Bluffs.
How much money and how many jobs the Microsoft project will bring to the region wasn't immediately clear. Microsoft and Culver's office are expected to make a more detailed announcement about the project within a few weeks.
"Their decision to make Iowa their newest home will have a tremendous impact on our local economy and our state as a whole," Culver said of Microsoft.
Data centers house computer systems and related equipment that provide services for businesses and individual customers. Microsoft has a data center in Quincy, Wash., and is building three others in San Antonio, Chicago and Dublin, Ireland, said spokeswoman Stacey Derk.
Investment must reach at least $200 million for Microsoft to qualify for business tax incentives under a bill passed this year by the Iowa Legislature. The new incentives exempt businesses from taxes on computers, electricity and related equipment used in a data center.
"This is part of our continuing effort to diversify Iowa's economy," said Senate Majority Leader Michael Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs. "It's certainly good news."
This year's legislation updated a 2007 law that was passed to lure Google. A state fiscal analysis estimated that Google would receive $34 million in tax incentives between 2009 and 2012 for its $600 million project.
It wasn't clear why Microsoft chose the Des Moines area, but the company has said it needs a reliable electricity source and a good source of water, among other things, Gronstal said.
"It's something that fits well," he said. "Iowa has a well-educated work force, a stable work force, a highly productive work force and great training at our community colleges."
--Contact the writer: 444-1310, elizabeth.ahlin@owh.com
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