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Google has announced plans to open a new data center in Lenoir, N.C., according to state officials. Local residents hope that Google's presence in the region will boost the local economy and spur job growth.

According to Mercury News, if Google maintains a minimum of 210 jobs at the data center, the company could be eligible for $4.8 million in tax breaks and incentives.

Google plans to build the center in Lenoir, which is about 60 miles northwest of Charlotte and has a population of somewhere around 17,000 people. Employees at the Google Data Center will bring home about $48,300, which is $20,000 more than the average salary of the surrounding areas.

"The data center we're planning to build in Lenoir will help support continued growth in our online services,'' Lloyd Taylor, Google's director of global operations said in a statement. "We look forward to joining the local community and are grateful for the support from the state and local governments throughout our evaluation process."

The opening marks the second major tech score for North Carolina within the past three years. In 2004 the state and local governments gave Dell Inc. $280 million worth of incentives to build a computer plant in Winston-Salem, with the plant opening for business in October of the following year.

It is speculated that Google will spend upwards of $600 million in constructing the Lenoir data center. The company hasn't released any details about the construction efforts, or a projected timeline for the plant's opening as of yet.

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Joe is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest ebusiness news.