Eric Zuniga, Campus Carrier deputy news editor
Microsoft is planning to build a $1 billion, 347-acre data center in West Rome on Huffaker Road. The company announced its plans at a Rome Floyd County Development Authority (RFCDA) meeting in October.
The data center, which Microsoft tentatively plans to complete in 2027 or 2028, will house computers and servers to support the company’s cloud computing services. Microsoft says that the center should create at least 150 jobs in the area.
The center’s planned location in West Rome places it only about five miles from Berry’s campus and near other higher education institutions in northwest Georgia. Mecole Ledbetter, associate director of employer engagement and internships, said the center’s proximity will open many professional opportunities for Berry students.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for us,” Ledbetter said. “Having their presence here, I think, enriches the academic landscape by providing our students with experiences—internship experiences, pathways to post-college employment. I think this is one of the best opportunities I’ve been closely connected to in a while.”
According to a report in the Rome News-Tribune, Microsoft has said it chose to locate in Rome because of the city’s industrial zoning and well-developed infrastructure. Although the company was not involved in discussions with Berry before the announcement, Ledbetter said Berry’s presence likely played a role in the decision.
“One of the main things that employers look for when choosing a location is talent,” Ledbetter said. “They’re studying the pathways that the colleges offer as well as the high schools. Maybe I’m biased because I’m here at Berry and I love Berry, but I can personally say that I believe that [we] played a part in their final decision.”
The Center for Professional and Personal Development intends to develop a partnership with Microsoft as the data center nears completion. Ledbetter plans on sharing information about Berry’s internship and student work programs with the RFCDA, which could serve as a liaison between the company and the college.
“They can be a resource to put our information into employers’ hands, such as Microsoft, and also a connectivity between the two,” Ledbetter said. “If we can build and strengthen that relationship, then we’ll always have a gateway into companies like Microsoft.”
Associate Professor of Computer Science Nadeem Hamid said the data center could provide excellent internship opportunities in information technology for students in the Berry Information Technology Students (BITS) program.
“This hopefully would be a good opportunity for Berry students to do internships in IT,” Hamid said. “That’s the kind of skills that would be used in the data center because you need to set up computers and run networking between them. When things die, you might swap out parts or figure out where there’s a broken link.”
According to Hamid, data centers are typically devoted to the storage large amounts of information rather than the development of new products. This means Microsoft’s center will likely hire few computer science graduates, who are trained in the development and writing of new software.
The new center could also open up employment opportunities not directly related to IT for students, according to Ledbetter.
“When you have a data center, it really depends on the departments that are within that data center,” Ledbetter said. “There could be marketing; there could be public relations, because a lot of our community will want to know about the datacenter, what their goals are, what their accomplishments are.”
Microsoft’s expansion into northwest Georgia has the potential to significantly alter the region’s economy, which is currently dominated by the healthcare industry. Many technology faculty and staff at Berry are hoping the center will stimulate a growing tech industry in Rome.
“We have such a small IT community here in town and I would love to see a much bigger, more active sort of group,” Chief Information Officer Penny Evans-Plants said. “I think it’ll help facilitate that, just because there will be more people here working within the IT field.”
Hamid said many technology companies may consider locating in Rome to have faster access to Microsoft’s cloud services.
“With this over here, maybe there’ll be some drift over the I-75 corridor towards Cartersville and Rome, so you might have other technology companies that start to pop up,” Hamid said. “That should hopefully give opportunities for students for internships or careers once they graduate in places that need people that can do software stuff.”
The RFCDA has offered Microsoft tax abatements on the new center. Though the company will pay county property and school system taxes, Microsoft will not have to pay taxes on the building and equipment for 12 years. Marc Hunsaker, dean of personal and professional development, said these kinds of abatements will likely attract more tech companies to the city.
“The tax abatements that we offer as the community is how those kinds of partnerships get started,” Hunsaker said. “There’s a reason why those companies cluster together in different places. They all are looking for the same kind of amenities.”
Though many at Berry are excited about the vocational opportunities the data center may bring, some in the local community have doubts about Microsoft’s entrance. Evans-Plants said that some locals feel that the multinational tech company is a departure from the traditional focus on manufacturing in the region’s economy.
Others have raised concerns about the data center’s usage of county water and power resources. Evans-Plants welcomes the new facility but hopes that Microsoft prioritizes sustainability in its development.
“I think those are legitimate concerns, because of what we’ve seen happen at other locations around the country where data centers are located, the amount of power and water they use,” Evans-Plants said. “Hopefully Microsoft is working to address some of those issues.”
Hamid said Microsoft’s presence in the community might attract more students who are interested in working in the technology industry to Berry.
“I think it will make the college, Berry, more visible,” Hamid said. “When [students] see there’s a datacenter there, it just has that atmosphere of being tech-y, so it might bolster that aspect of Berry’s programs and encourage more students to pursue them.”
A spokesperson for Microsoft did not provide specifics about the new data center but said the company is committed to the tech industry in Georgia.
“We don’t have anything definitive to share at this time but can confirm we are committed to supporting Georgia’s digital transformation with the Microsoft cloud,” the spokesperson said in a statement.