Governor Susana Martinez Announces Facebook to Double Investment in New Mexico Data Center, Bringing Total to Half a Billion Dollars
Santa Fe, NM — Today, Governor Susana Martinez announced that Facebook will double its investment in the high-tech data center the company is building in Los Lunas, bringing the project’s total to nearly half a billion dollars. Facebook will build a second building of 460,000 square feet, in addition to the more than 510,000 square-foot facility already underway at the site.
“This is exciting news for New Mexico,” Governor Martinez said. “We’re proud to have a cutting-edge high-tech company like Facebook as a partner as we move forward in diversifying New Mexico’s economy. New Mexico’s powerful incentives are bringing more opportunities to our state – once again ahead of schedule with more jobs and investment than initially anticipated. Results like these show the power of our commitment to lift up our communities.”
This second building will be another $250 million project, in addition to Facebook’s initial investment of $250 million. Today’s announcement doubles Facebook’s total investment in the New Mexico data center to half a billion dollars and has the potential to support more than 100 full-time operational jobs. The project already has an average of 150 workers onsite daily. Facebook anticipates having as many as 1,000 workers onsite at the peak of construction, as well as more full-time jobs for the expansion once complete.
“We’re thrilled to be expanding our presence in the State of New Mexico and the Village of Los Lunas, and we’re grateful to Governor Martinez for her ongoing support,” said Tom Furlong, Vice President of Infrastructure at Facebook. “We continue to find a strong pool of talent to build our data center, and we’re excited that construction crews will be working on the site for years to come.”
According to Facebook, as with the initial phase of the project, the second building will also be one of the most advanced and energy efficient data center facilities in the world, featuring the latest in OCP server, storage, and network designs. It will also be powered with 100 percent clean and renewable energy.
“When Facebook made their initial $250 million investment nine months ago, it showcased our improved business climate, the power of our incentives and the reforms that Governor Martinez has instituted,” said Economic Development Cabinet Secretary Matt Geisel. “After experiencing all New Mexico has to offer, Facebook is doubling down on their investment. We’ve seen it again and again, when we bring companies to New Mexico, good things happen.”
In August of 2015, the Governor led an economic development team to Northern California to personally meet with company executives and highlight New Mexico’s growing competitiveness for jobs and investment.
Earlier this year, Governor Martinez announced that Albuquerque’s Affordable Solar will invest $45 million to create 300 jobs to build three cutting-edge solar farms that will help support Facebook’s high-tech data center. Other partners include Albuquerque Economic Development, the New Mexico Partnership and PNM.
Among other reasons the company selected New Mexico for the project, Facebook cited the state’s competitive business climate, strong workforce, commitment to infrastructure investment, and opportunities for renewable energy development.
Since taking office in 2011, Governor Martinez and her administration have continued to pursue bold reforms and build up critical tools that make New Mexico more competitive for jobs and investment. These include cutting taxes 37 times, streamlining regulations and growing New Mexico’s closing fund and job training program, both of which were nearly dormant when Governor Martinez took office.
Governor Martinez fought to grow the closing fund – a valuable tool for investing in infrastructure and capital improvements – to more than $56 million, and expanded funding for New Mexico’s job training program to more than $12 million. JTIP is now ranked as one of the top workforce development programs in the nation.
On the heels of these and other reforms, New Mexico continues to recruit companies from around the country and the world – like FedEx, Safelite Autoglass, PCM, RSI and Keter Plastic. Homegrown New Mexico companies are growing and thriving across the state as well – like Meow Wolf, Skorpios, Descartes Labs, Risksense and many others.