Data centers in Caldwell County, North Carolina: 1 project mapped

Imagery: Esri, Maxar

Google has run a data center at 708 Lynhaven Drive in Lenoir since 2007, and in March 2026 it pledged $1 billion over two years to expand it, mostly to meet demand from AI and cloud services. A separate plan, "Project Cardinal," would add a $600 million expansion on about 60 acres next door, at 914 Virginia Street and 919 Fairview Drive. The city and county approved tax breaks for it in 2024; Google has five years to make the investment and said it has no confirmed timeline.

The Project Cardinal deal returns 50 percent of real property taxes and 85 percent of personal property taxes over 20 years, in exchange for 30 new full-time jobs. The city will supply extra water, with Google paying $6.8 million toward it, and closed part of Virginia Street for the company's security. With the March pledge, Google added a $2 million fund to help county residents make homes and schools more energy efficient.

What Google uses and employs here is partly secret. Under the 2024 agreement with the county and city, the number of workers is a "trade secret" and its energy, water and sewer use is confidential; the company has said 400 people work there. Google paid about $5.2 million in property taxes last year, nearly 10 percent of the county's total, in a county the state ranks among its most economically distressed.

Every project above is drawn from public records, filings and local reporting. Each row links to what it is based on. Statuses change, so check the source date before you rely on one. Found something wrong? Write to [email protected] and it gets fixed.