Taipei, Oct. 8 (CNA) Google Inc. is planning to increase its investment in its cloud computing data center in central Taiwan to better capitalize on Asia's fast-growing Internet communications market, the Economic Daily News reported Wednesday.

The report said that Google is expected to invest an additional US$100 million to US$200 million in the third phase of the development of the data center, which is located in the Changhua Coastal Industrial Park.

Google has already invested more than US$600 million in the facility.

The first phase of the data center's development was completed at the end of last year, when the center formally opened, and the report said the second phase is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year.

The third phase of development, expected to cover an area of about eight hectares, could start in early 2015.

With Google increasing its investment in Taiwan, the facility in Changhua could become the high-tech giant's largest-ever cloud data center in the Asia Pacific region, the report said.

It will end up being five times that of facilities in Singapore and Hong Kong after the new injections of funds, the report said.

Google has already prepared satellites and undersea cables to support the expansion of the Taiwan data center, the report said.

The U.S. company has trumpeted its Changhua data center as having "innovative technologies" that will cut energy consumption by 50 percent, making it the company's most energy-efficient cloud data facility to date.

Google operates 12 data centers globally, with seven in the Americas, two in Europe and three in Asia. Each data center is customized to its region and local climate to optimize efficiency.

The report said that contract notebook computer makers Quanta Computer Inc., Inventec Corp., and Wistron Corp., which churn out servers for Google, are among the Taiwanese suppliers expected to benefit from the new round of investment.

Many Taiwanese high-tech manufacturers have entered the cloud computing field to diversify their product portfolios. 

(By Frances Huang)
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