Google: Stalled Data Centers Will Be Built

Google (GOOG) isn’t abandoning the data center projects where it has slowed or halted construction due to the slowing economy, the company said this week. In a presentation at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference in San Francisco, executives said Google intends to eventually complete a planned facility in Oklahoma, and that recent land purchases reflect long-term planning for an even larger data center network.

In October Google said it will delay construction of a $600 million data center campus in Pryor, Oklahoma that was originally scheduled to be completed in early 2009. The company also reportedly has halted construction work on a second data center building in Lenoir, North Carolina, where Google has already built and commissioned one data center.

“We will build those data centers,” said Alan Eustance, Google’s senior vice president for engineering. “There’s no doubt that over the life of the company we will need that computation. None of those sites have been shelved.”

“All the demand coming our way is relentless,” added chief financial office Patrick Pichette. “It’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when.”