Google: "We are very excited to be able to grow our presence in Uruguay".

The U.S. multinational Google LLC informed this Friday that it has acquired a 30-hectare property in the Parque de las Ciencias de Canelones, where it intends to install one of its data centers in Latin America.

"We are very excited to be able to grow our presence in Uruguay," the company said in a statement.

The acquisition was made through its subsidiary Eleanor Applications SRL. "The purchase of the property is an important milestone in this process and reinforces Google's commitment to Uruguay and Latin America and the development of the local technology ecosystem."

Although Google made it clear that its prospects are "encouraging" and the purchase of the site represents a step forward in that sense, it also warned that it still has "several instances" to overcome before building the center and showed again a position similar to the one it showed a few months ago when its landing was postponed.

As reported by El Observador, the company intended to expand its infrastructure and found Uruguay a destination of interest. But it was not until mid-2020 when it advanced in the purchase of the land near the Parque de las Ciencias, on Gonzalo "Gonchi" Rodríguez Street, and paid for it, according to sources, an overprice of US$ 818 thousand compared to the US$ 600 thousand offered by other bidders. Only this Friday he made the acquisition official, without giving details of the amount.

The Minister of Industry, Energy and Mining, Omar Paganini, told El Observador that the announcement "is a very important step" that "excites and makes the government very happy". "We know that the final investment decision is still pending, but a very important step forward has been taken with the purchase of the land to make this project tangible," he said. The head of the government indicated that now the "final stage" will be entered and showed "optimism" that the installation of a data center will become a reality in the short term.

For his part, the mayor of Canelones, Yamandú Orsi, congratulated and thanked the team of the municipality that "worked quietly for almost two years" for the project to move forward.

The communal chief valued that "in these hard times" it is good to announce the good things that will happen in Canelones and in Uruguay. "It is a positive accumulation that strengthens credibility. Pride of being oriental".

Source: El Observador