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Google Said to Have Acquired Land for Building Cloud Computing Center in Taiwan

2011/02/24 | By Ken Liu

Taipei, Feb. 24, 2011 (CENS)--Search engine Google is reported to have acquired a 15-hectare plot of land in Changhua County in central Taiwan in preparation for its plan to open a cloud computing center on the island.

An undisclosed investment company, reportedly held by Google, has completed a NT$1 billion (US$34.4 million at US$1:NT$29) acquisition of land lot.

According to the investment company's business registration documents forwarded to the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), the company is wholly owned by a British Virgin Islands-registered company, which has no background records available. The investment company, capitalized at NT$1.2 billion (US$41 million), has declined to disclose the purpose of the land acquisition.

Industry watchers assumed the company was held by Google, which at one point pledged to open a data center in Taiwan and has since kept the plan shelved. They estimated the center would cost a total of NT$9 billion (US$310 million) in investment.