Google Project Dawson (Ridgeville) data center, Ridgeville, South Carolina

Google is building a data center campus on about 231 acres at the Pine Hill Business Campus in Ridgeville, Dorchester County, South Carolina, a project it pursued under the code name Project Dawson before confirming its identity. It is one of two Google campuses under construction in Dorchester County, alongside one at Winding Woods Commerce Park in St. George. Dorchester County agreed to sell the county-owned Pine Hill land to Autumn Timber LLC, a Google shell company, for $5.84 million and approved tax breaks and a water-service agreement.

Autumn Timber LLC used the Project Dawson name on a state environmental permit, and Mallard LLC appeared in Dominion Energy's filings with the state Public Service Commission before Google confirmed its role. Google announced the two Dorchester campuses in September 2024 as a $2 billion investment with 200 operational jobs, part of $3.3 billion that also expands its Moncks Corner campus in Berkeley County. In October 2025 it announced a further $9 billion in South Carolina for 2026 and 2027, including more development of the two Dorchester campuses.

Dominion's filings described Project Dawson as a "substantial load" with its own new substation. The Post and Courier reported Google was offered an economic development electricity rate of 6 cents a kilowatt hour, about half what residential customers pay, while the site's planned capacity was redacted from the filings.

County leaders have backed the project for its tax revenue. "This is the way life is, if you turn a light switch on it's gonna go through a data center," then-council chairman Todd Friddle said in 2024. Current council chairman David Chinnis said the investment "provides significant funding towards both school districts in Dorchester County each year."

Google said in 2024 it expected the Dorchester campuses to be running within 12 to 18 months, and its South Carolina website now says it has opened its newest data center in Dorchester County without naming which of the two campuses. No source has confirmed the Ridgeville campus itself is finished, so it remains listed here as under construction. Any rate agreement for its power is reviewed by the South Carolina Public Service Commission, and land, tax and water terms rest with Dorchester County Council.