Google will invest an additional $7 billion across Iowa in the next two years, primarily to expand data centers in Cedar Rapids and Council Bluffs, Google officials confirmed at an investment announcement at the Google Cedar Rapids site Friday afternoon.
Friday’s event, attended by about 100 invited guests, marked the first official Google confirmation that the tech giant is building a large-scale data center in Cedar Rapids, though construction has been evident at the site along Edgewood Road SW for several months.
A Google spokesperson confirmed after the event that the Google investment in Cedar Rapids is part of the $7 billion announcement, but added that the long-cited $576 million local investment figure “is not representative of the full Cedar Rapids project, which is well above that.”
The spokesperson declined to further specify the new Cedar Rapids project estimate, or how the $7 billion investment will be distributed across the state, but company officials said during Friday’s event that the investment will help expand the company’s cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure.
Google has already invested $6.8 billion in Iowa since the company established its presence in the state with the opening of a Council Bluffs data center in 2007.
“I feel extra fortunate to have been in the very front row of watching Iowa prove that they are the true leaders in innovation and in technology, and really critical and central to Google’s investment, in both our cloud as well as our AI infrastructure,” said Allie Hopkins, area lead for Google data centers across the Midwest.
Google also announced at Friday’s event that they are providing $500,000 in funding for a new program with the Cedar Rapids Electrical Trade Center. The program will bring more than 700 apprentices into the electrical trade by the year 2030 – a 95% increase in the number of registered electrical apprentices in Iowa, according to Jebediah Novak, the center’s training director.
Google is also partnering with the Iowa Department of Education and Iowa’s community colleges for Iowa to offer Google Career Certificates and AI Essentials to students and faculty at Iowa’s K-12 schools and 15 community colleges, at no cost. Google says the new partnership will help increase workforce readiness for Iowans across the state and help faculty to master the latest AI skills and tools.
“With today’s announcement, we’re deepening our roots here in Iowa,” said Ruth Porat, president and chief investment officer of Google and its parent company, Alphabet. “What we’re really focused on is deepening our work to ensure, as Ali talked about, that Iowa is an essential place with all of the opportunities that technology can offer.”
Iowa governor Kim Reynolds hailed the announcement as an “exciting milestone” for Iowa.
“This additional investment isn’t just a corporate decision,” Ms. Reynolds said. “It’s a powerful endorsement of our state, of our communities and our potential. It’s a catalyst for prosperity and Iowa’s future, and we are so proud to stand alongside one of the most innovative companies in the world … these facilities are not just buildings with servers, they’re engines of progress fueling careers and communities by a shared future. And nowhere is this more tangible, more impactful, or more inspiring than right here in the great state of Iowa.”
Ms. Reynolds noted that last year alone, Google generated $2.1 billion in economic activity for Iowa businesses, nonprofits and creators.
U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst said the new Cedar Rapids data center will help showcase Iowa as “a great place to do business for companies both large and small.”
“This partnership with Google at the Big Cedar Industrial Park will bring new opportunities for Iowans for literally years to come,” Ms. Ernst said. “Projects like this are critical to ensuring that the United States remains a leader in innovation, artificial Intelligence – which is something that I focus a lot on in the federal government – telecommunications and numerous other emerging technologies.”
U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson characterized Google’s investment announcement as “a golden age for Google, for Iowa and for our country.”
“Investments like this are a testament to our workforce here in Iowa,” Ms. Hinson said. “It’s a dedicated, talented, skilled workforce right in our community. These people are integrated into our economy every single day, and the hard work, ingenuity and commitment of our people are why companies like Google choose to invest and expand here. Collaborations like these are absolutely critical to the future of Iowa’s economy, and investments in workforce development will ensure that there is a strong pipeline of talent and good-paying jobs. More working families will come here to Iowa because of investments like this one.”
“To the Google family, I just have to say, your baby is beautiful,” said Cedar Rapids mayor Tiffany O’Donnell as she gazed at the data center facility behind her.
“What a milestone to officially and out loud welcome Google to the city of Cedar Rapids,” Ms. O’Donnell said. “It’s a once in a generation opportunity, not just because of the size of investment and the jobs that it’s going to create here, though both are truly historic. This moment matters because of what it represents for us as a community. It represents confidence that a global community and an innovative force like Google has placed in the people here, has placed in our values and has put their confidence behind us. It represents a vote of confidence in how we have always overachieved in Iowa’s second largest city.”
Ms. O’Donnell also noted that the project reflects Cedar Rapids’ history of manufacturing and innovation, from Quaker Oats to Collins Aerospace.
“We’ve always understood the power and the imperative of vision paired with action, and now Google is a part of that proud tradition,” she said. “This is a moment of something bigger here in Cedar Rapids … This isn’t just a data center. This is a catalyst, a tremendous catalyst, for our future, and it’s changing the trajectory of our future.”
Google officials haven’t yet indicated when the new Cedar Rapids data center will begin operations.
Google was originally identified in March 2024 as the company developing a large-scale data center project at the Big Cedar Industrial Center in southwest Cedar Rapids – a project that, with a minimum investment of $576 million, was said to be the largest economic development project in the city’s history.
That figure was supplanted in September 2024 by the announcement of a $750 million data center just west of the Google site. The city of Cedar Rapids and Alliant Energy confirmed in January that QTS (Quality Technology Services) was building that data center project.
