Google announced Wednesday it's making a new $9 billion dollar investment in Oklahoma within the next two years. The money will create state and academic and workforce incentives around cloud tech, artificial intelligence and data center expansions.
Google officials say the tech company will complete phase one of a new data center in Stillwater by 2027, all while implementing education and workforce training programs at the state's flagship universities.
Gov. Kevin Stitt is totally on board.
"I don't know if you guys all caught that, but $9 billion dollars is a big number, right?" Stitt said to a round of applause from over 100 people attending the celebration event.
In addition to funding workforce programs, the money will build a new data center in Stillwater. Google announced the location earlier this year, but had not publicly put a dollar number on the investment.
Stitt said he and lawmakers paved the way for these developments earlier this year by cutting individual and corporate taxes, setting up business courts, and allowing companies to build their own private electric grids.
Using the opportunity to repeat one of his most-used talking points, Stitt said Google chose to invest in Oklahoma because it's the most business-friendly state.
"Google's decision to open another data center here is proof," he said. "Google has been a valuable partner in everything from economic development to workforce education. I'm grateful for their investment in our state, and I'm looking forward to the great jobs they continue to create as we work to become the best state for AI infrastructure."
Google says it will partner with a union-affiliated electrical training program called the electrical training ALLIANCE to help get critical power infrastructure up quickly. The tech giant will also work with the state's two flagship universities to help students develop AI job-readiness skills.
The University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University are among the more than 100 colleges across the country that are a part of Google's AI for Education Accelerator Program, which provides students, staff, and faculty with free access to training and professional certifications, and advanced AI tools. The program launched last week.
Ruth Porat is the President and Chief Investment Officer at Alphabet and Google. She said the goal is to power a "new era of American innovation," and Oklahoma has proven to be a generous partner in helping the company meet its needs.
"For nearly two decades, Google has proudly called Oklahoma home, starting with our data center in Mayes County, our second largest in the world," Porat said. "All of these investments are designed to help ensure the U.S. continues to lead in AI, while unlocking economic opportunity and creating good jobs across Oklahoma."
Why small rural Oklahoma towns embrace tech giants
In addition to the new build happening in Stillwater. The investment also includes an expansion of the Pryor data center.
Pryor Mayor Zac Doyle said the company's new injections in his city are a new chapter in its ongoing success story.
"Not only has Google brought hundreds of jobs, economic growth, and billions in investment, but they continue to support our schools and nonprofits with much-needed funding and resources, creating a tremendous impact for Pryor," Doyle said.
Stillwater Mayor Will Joyce said he's looking forward to the boons a data center like the one in Pryor will bring to his college town.
"It'll be a tremendous benefit from an economic standpoint in terms of jobs, in terms of just the development that's happening, but also in tax revenue to our city, to the school district, and the county," Joyce said.
He said the temporary jobs for construction are likely to be in the thousands over a few years. For reference, the Pryor data center broke ground in 2007 but didn't officially open until 2011.
Joyce said his understanding is that permanent jobs will end up being somewhere between 100 and 150 people operating the center day-to-day. A big part of it is all the non-technical jobs they'll need. like security and building maintenance, he said.
"But, you know, that's actually somewhat of a positive," he said. " Because, if you had an automotive factory with 6,000 jobs, you'd have to have schools for all those kids and housing for all those families. So this actually brings in the development and brings in the economic boost, but doesn't necessarily create a lot of those economic burdens that having a whole huge new job creator does."
Data centers use huge amounts of energy to run their servers and water to cool them. Google spokesperson Kate Franco said the tech giant pays for all of the resources it uses and has a goal of replenishing the water it uses.
"We work very closely with water authorities and utility companies to ensure that we are good stewards of their resources," Franko said. "We have a corporate goal of replenishing 120% of the water our data centers use globally, and we are supporting water replenishment for that right here in Oklahoma."
Lawmakers eye the future of AI in Oklahoma
Meanwhile, lawmakers have to catch up with updating state policies that regulate AI in Oklahoma.
Rep. Daniel Pae, R-Lawton, and Rep. Arturo Alonso-Sandoval, D-Oklahoma City, have been looking into how to regulate AI, which has grown rapidly in recent years. Pae was at the celebration and said there is an important balance to strike as companies look to expand and implement AI into communities.
"Whether it's education, health care, public safety, there is a fine balance between encouraging the private sector to innovate and explore new ideas in this realm, but also protecting everyone's privacy," he said.
He said he encourages Congress to pass a law that would provide consistent guidance for states looking to regulate AI.
"But in the meantime, as states, we want to make sure we're doing our jobs as lawmakers," he said. "And that means ensuring everyone is safe and protected."
