Google accounted for more than a third of South Carolina’s economic development investment total in 2024, with the internet search and advertising giant announcing plans to build two data centers in Dorchester County and expand another in neighboring Berkeley County.
The company’s combined $3.3 billion outlay helped the Palmetto State record nearly $8.2 billion worth of industrial announcements for the year, the S.C. Department of Commerce said Jan. 6.
All told, the deals are expected to generate more than 5,500 jobs.
“The capital investment and economic development activity announced in 2024 reinforces South Carolina’s position as a competitive destination for businesses across many sectors,” Harry Lightsey, the state’s commerce secretary, said in a written statement. “By building upon industries in which we have established ourselves as a national leader — like automotive and advanced manufacturing — while unlocking potential in emerging sectors, we can create more high-wage, high-skill economic opportunities.”
Google is investing in new server farms to support the explosive growth in artificial intelligence, cloud computing and other internet-based services. It also will spend $2.2 million on programs to help offset the huge demand its data centers put on electric and water utilities. About 70 percent of new demand on the state’s power grid will come from data centers, utility executives have said.
AESC, which makes batteries for electric vehicles, had the second-largest investment in 2024 with a $1.5 billion expansion at its Florence manufacturing campus. The project builds on an earlier announcement of a plant to provide battery components to BMW’s plant in the Upstate and will give AESC a workforce totaling 2,700 jobs when operations begin in 2027.
Birla Carbon and Boeing Co. accounted for the state’s other 10-figure investments, at $1 billion apiece.
India-based Birla plans to build a synthetic graphite production site in Orangeburg County that will meet projected demands for the electric vehicle, energy storage and defense markets.
Boeing said it will expand its 787 Dreamliner plant North Charleston, including a second assembly building to make the wide-body commercial jets. The Arlington, Va.-based company also said it will invest in its other local business operations, including a factory that makes overhead storage bins and other aircraft cabin parts.
Last year’s statewide total fell shy of the $9.2 billion the state recruited in 2023 and the record $10.2 billion recorded in 2022.
Charleston County led the state in 2024 with 11 investment announcements totaling $48.5 million. Google’s new data centers — one near St. George, the other west of Summerville — accounted for Dorchester County’s two announcements.
Berkeley County also saw a pair of projects. In addition to the expansion of the existing Google server farm near Moncks Corner, defense contractor Leonardo DRS said it will spend $120 million on a factory in Goose Creek that will build parts of the Navy’s next-generation nuclear warships.