Google to Announce Plans Thursday (10:35 a.m.)

The search for Google is over.

The search-engine giant is building a $600 million, 24-hour-a-day data-processing center that will initially employ 200 people near Goose Creek, according to a statement released by Gov. Mark Sanford's office Wednesday. T

he state has already signed off on incentives for the company and tweaked the tax code so that Google will not be taxed on electricity and capital investment, exemptions that have traditionally been afforded to large manufacturing facilities.

"This announcement is a positive sign that our efforts to improve the state's business climate are paying dividends when it comes to attracting high tech, knowledge-based industries that will enable us to further compete in the global economy," Sanford said in a statement. "Given the stature of this company and the magnitude of this investment, this is a real win for South Carolina."

Speculation about Google has been frenzied since December, despite painstaking efforts to keep its plans tightly under wraps, including the use of mysterious corporate entities. It started when Maguro Enterprises LLC, a newly formed business with ties to the search-engine giant, bought 514 acres on U.S. Highway 52 near Goose Creek for $17 million. Google initially declined comment on the land transaction, and government officials said they were sworn to secrecy, although several people close to the deal said that Google drove the deal. The development was originally code-named "Project X" and "Project Y."

By last fall, it took on a corporate moniker, Pyrite LLC, which received a package of tax breaks and other incentives in exchange for making a major technology investment. Google confirmed its ties to the Maguro Enterprises deal earlier this year, stressing that the Mount Holly site was one of several chunks of land being considered for a data-process At the same time, the state's top industrial recruiter, Commerce Secretary Joe Taylor, said there was a "very distinct possibility" that Google would make a sizable investment near Goose Creek.

Last week, the state Commerce Department quietly circulated invitations to a "significant economic development announcement" for Berkeley County on Thursday at Cypress Gardens, according to a copy obtained by The Post and Courier.

Among the main attractions for Google were relatively cheap electricity and access to Lake Moultrie. The company needs an abundance of both power and water to run and cool the banks of computers that process its Internet search requests.

"Google was upfront about what they needed to make this work and we were upfront about what we could do," Taylor said in a Wednesday statement. 'We are very glad we could make it come together to bring a marquee name like Google to our state."

Work is already well under way on the Mount Holly property, as previously reported. After clearing land, construction crews broke ground last month and started pouring foundations and putting up walls. Permit requests have been filed through Maguro Enterprises for roads, parking lots and various buildings on up to 152 acres of the site, according to the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.

Google has said its insistence on secrecy stems from concerns about security and a desire not to show its hand to competitors such as Microsoft and Yahoo!, which also are seeking sites for data centers.

Google's expansion plans coincide with a boom in business. Its profit almost doubled last year to $3.1 billion on $10.6 billion in revenue, most of which came from selling advertisements on its Web and search engine sites. The tech giant's payroll grew in step, almost doubling to around 10,700 workers. Google, which leases a number of support offices worldwide, including buildings in Atlanta and Chapel Hill, is now looking to add more data centers worldwide to accommodate its rapidly expanding user base. The company forked out $1.9 billion in capital spending in 2006, saying in regulatory filings that it will top that figure this year.

The company recently said it would build a 210-worker data center in Lenoir, N.C. It also is eyeing the Columbia area for another facility. A company named Arum Composites LLC, which is affiliated with Google, recently bought 466 acres near Blythewood, about 20 miles north of Columbia. Site plans filed with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers show a data center, as well two electrical substations and cooling towers. The company, however, has yet to advertise for South Carolina workers on its human resources Web site: www.google.com/jobs/index.html.