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Press Release - Wednesday, November 29, 2023
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Gov. Pritzker Celebrates Opening of Meta's DeKalb Data Center
The campus builds on Illinois' thriving data center ecosystem
CHICAGO - Today, Governor JB Pritzker joined local elected officials, Meta leadership, and business and academic leaders to celebrate the opening of Meta's Data Center in Dekalb. The data center is now fully operational and is supported by 100% renewable energy.
"As Illinois grows its status as a technology hub of the future, this data center is bringing investment and vitality to a newly thriving community," said Governor JB Pritzker. "We're thrilled that Meta is committed not just to continuing to build a successfully company, but also to lifting up the people of this entire region."
Meta also announced a partnership with Northern Illinois University to support the NIU Barb City STEAM Studio that is designed to increase college and career readiness for DeKalb High School students. The new program will support students interested in engineering, robotics, and other STEM fields with the goal of creating opportunities for underrepresented communities.
The DeKalb Data Center is now serving traffic, interfacing, and connecting with a global infrastructure of data and technology hubs connecting people across the world. Its construction created over 1,200 skilled trade jobs that contributed to the 2.3 million square foot campus. The fully operational facility will support over 200 good-paying jobs in the DeKalb community and represents an investment of more than $1 billion in the state of Illinois.
Meta also has upcoming projects in DeWitt and Morgan counties, and the three data centers will cumulatively add 300 megawatts of renewable energy to Illinois.
"ComEd is proud to partner with Meta and the city of DeKalb in powering this state-of-the-art campus that will fuel today's growing digital economy while bringing jobs and economy activity to our communities," said ComEd CEO Gil Quiniones. "With access to strong infrastructure, a top-notch workforce, and the best-in-the-nation electric reliability, it's no surprise that northern Illinois is a thriving hub for data centers. We look forward to powering the continued growth of Meta and the data center industry here in Illinois."
The new campus builds on Illinois' thriving data center industry, supported by the Pritzker administration's data center incentives. Currently, four of the largest data center campuses in the nation are being built in Illinois, creating thousands of jobs and investing billions in the state.
VIDEO FROM THESE EVENTS WILL BE AVAILABE FOR DOWNLOAD HERE.
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