Facebook will build its next data center in Ohio.
On Tuesday, the company announced that it will invest $750 million to build a new facility in New Albany, just outside Columbus.
The data center will employ 100 permanent workers when it’s finished in 2019.
Ohio Governor John Kasich said the project reflects the state’s desire to diversify what kind of jobs are available to its citizens.
“Ohio, as we know, has a heavy reliance on manufacturing, and we’re for that. But we also believe that manufacturing in and of itself doesn’t get the job done,” Kasich, a Republican, said in a speech to the press.
Kasich said Ohio is also still pitching Foxconn, the Taiwanese electronics manufacturer, to build an additional plant in the state. Foxconn recently said it will invest $10 billion in a new Wisconsin plant that will create between 3,000 and 13,000 jobs.
“We hope they will make something here,” he said. “We don’t know if they’ll make something here.”
Facebook’s existing U.S. data centers are in Oregon, North Carolina and Iowa. Centers in Fort Worth, Texas and Los Lunas, New Mexico are currently under construction, and Facebook announced plans for another site in Papillon, Nebraska in April.
The company’s sales growth may be starting to slow down, but its massive user base requires significant physical infrastructure.
Facebook hit 2 billion monthly users in June.
“We’re thrilled to have found a home in Ohio and to embark on this exciting partnership,” said Erin Egan, Facebook’s vice president of U.S. public policy.
The facility will be powered entirely by renewable energy, Egan said.