Google announces new data center development in Omaha, Nebraska as part of capacity expansion.

Google has requested re-zoning for a potential expansion to its Papillon data center campus, seeking approval for 187 acres of agricultural land in Omaha, Nebraska. According to a Google spokesperson, "We are in the early stages of exploring a potential expansion to the Omaha data center campus. While we do not have a confirmed timeline for development of this land, we want to ensure we have the option to grow further, should our business demand it." This expansion request comes just weeks after the company paused data center development in Minnesota with no indication of when or if that project will resume.

Google's re-zoning proposal arrives amid broader community opposition to data center development in other regions. Last year, colos QTS and Compass encountered steep resistance to their re-zoning ambitions for land near the Manassas National Battlefield Park in Prince William County, Virginia, while AWS faced similar local opposition in Loudoun County. The company has already faced scrutiny over its environmental practices at the current Papillon site, where it bulldozed 5 acres of untouched prairie land, according to reporting by the Nebraska Examiner.

To address environmental concerns, Google has pledged a $100,000 donation to the Papio-Missouri River Natural Resources District, with funds earmarked to preserve a new prairie through the Glacier Creek Prairie Preserve. This follows a broader industry trend of data center operators working to build community relations. AWS announced a $300,000 grant program in Northern Virginia to promote sustainability efforts in the region. To contextualize these efforts, GCP pulled in $6.9 billion in revenue during the third quarter of 2022, while AWS brought in $20.5 billion for Amazon in the third quarter of that year.

This development reflects larger shifts within the hyperscaler industry. Meta, Facebook's parent company, stopped data center development in Denmark and paused future developments only weeks ago to restructure its approach around AI. Omdia analysts Alan Howard and Dominika Koncewicz estimate Google's development will occur on an adjacent plot near the Papillon data center campus, with data center tracker projections indicating Papillon 3 development could begin this year.