Google's $9 Billion Data Center Deal in Chesterfield County: A Decades-Long Journey
Chesterfield County's $9 billion Google data center deal was decades in the making. The county's favorable zoning and tax policies, implemented over three decades, made it an attractive location for data centers.
In 1996, Meadowville Technology Park was zoned as an industrial technology park due to its robust water infrastructure, which was initially intended for a microchip manufacturer but ultimately proved ideal for data centers. The county's first data center was constructed in 2006 at the same location.
A key tax exemption for data center equipment was introduced by Virginia in 2010, adding another layer of incentive for investment. In 2017, Chesterfield County lowered its data center tax rate from $1.80 to 24 cents per 100, allowing it to compete more effectively with Henrico County for a Facebook data center worth $750 million.
The county's strategic efforts paid off in August 2025 when Google announced a $9 billion commitment across three campuses and nine buildings. The deal is projected to generate significant tax revenue, potentially shifting the residential-to-commercial tax burden from a 79%-to-21% split to 76%-to-24%. County leaders have since signaled they are not interested in pursuing additional data center projects.