Every time someone runs a query on Search, watches a video on YouTube, looks up directions on Google Maps, or uses Gmail for work or school, there’s a data center behind the scenes making it all possible. We live in an era in which digital communication and access to information are foundational to the growth and development of countries and the people who live in them. That’s why we opened a data center in Chile in 2015 — to improve the connectivity of our users and the performance of our services. Today, after dedicated planning and analysis, we are taking another step forward with the construction of a second data center in Latin America, this time in Canelones, Uruguay.

We’re investing more than $850 million USD in the new data center, which will bring greater connectivity across the region, help boost the development of governments, businesses and communities — while improving access to the growing demand for artificial intelligence (AI). Today’s announcement solidifies our commitment to the pillars that have been the foundation of our presence in the region: creating opportunities through digital skilling, expanding infrastructure to boost economic development, and supporting a more sustainable future.

Creating opportunity through digital skills

Digital skills are critical to unlocking opportunities for the next generation. Together with programs such as Google Career Certificates, we have invested in expanding access to our Google Cloud Skills Boost platform that offers on-demand training and skill development. As part of this effort, we’re already working with more than 550 universities across Latin America to offer a robust and continuously updated portfolio of learning resources to ensure their students are ready to seize the opportunities created by new technologies. As a result, we’ve granted more than 35,000 digital skill badges to students and individual developers in Latin America over the last 18 months.

In Uruguay, we’re collaborating with local universities such as the Universidad Tecnológica (UTEC) and the Universidad de Montevideo (UM) to incorporate technology content into related courses. And we’ve worked to promote business and innovation with two startups academies together with key partners of the ecosystem in Uruguay: the National Development Agency (ANDE) and the National Agency of Research and Innovation (ANII).

We hope our new data center in Canelones will be a significant contribution to the professional and technological development of Uruguay and the entire region. As we break ground, and as we do in each of our data center communities, we will continue investing resources in Data Center Community Impact Programs that harness the full potential of technology, including digital skills trainings and new projects that generate economic and social impact.

Expanding technical infrastructure to boost economic development

Since we’ve been present in Latin America, we’ve been investing in technical infrastructure to help people and businesses improve connectivity and access to digital services, including Google products like Search, Gmail and YouTube and Google Cloud. These investments include subsea cables such as Firmina, Tannat, Curie, and Humboldt, the first cable route between South America and Asia-Pacific, as well as Google Cloud regions in São Paulo, Brazil, Santiago de Chile, and the future region in Querétaro, Mexico.

Supporting a more sustainable future

At Google, sustainability is at the heart of everything we do, including how we design and manage our data centers. Our 28 data centers in 11 countries are among the highest performing, most secure, reliable and efficient in the world. On average, a Google-operated data center is 1.8 times more energy efficient than a typical data center, and compared to five years ago, we now deliver approximately four times more computing power using the same amount of electrical power.

We’ve taken the global lead in the fight against climate change through a strong commitment to clean energy. And we’re proud to bring this commitment to our new data center in Uruguay, which already uses renewable energy in more than 90% of its energy matrix.

Today marks an important milestone for Google’s longstanding commitment to Latin America. Opening a new data center in Uruguay is more than just an effort to expand our support for users and customers in the region. It means creating more opportunities, bringing technical solutions to help businesses, governments and society reach their goals, and working with communities to help them strengthen their digital skills. We’re thrilled to start this new chapter in Uruguay and continue boosting growth in the region together.