Google West Memphis data center, West Memphis, Arkansas

Google has its first Arkansas data center under construction on about 1,100 acres in the industrial park south of West Memphis, in Crittenden County, a $4 billion investment through 2027; work began in October 2025. Google's subsidiary Groot LLC bought 1,117 acres of farmland from Bollinger Brothers Inc. for $16.5 million in November 2024, and an Army Corps of Engineers notice puts the whole data center site at 1,178 acres.

Google has confirmed plans for two buildings with room for up to five, and a spokesperson said initial build-out typically takes 18 to 24 months, with hundreds of permanent jobs and thousands in construction. The West Memphis City Council approved up to $60 billion in industrial development bonds over 30 years for the project, $10 billion for real estate and $50 billion for equipment. Mayor Marco McLendon called the announcement the biggest day in the city's history. Google has pledged a $25 million energy efficiency fund for local households, and applied in September 2025 for a Clean Air Act permit for backup generators, which it says are only for the rare event the grid goes down.

The fight is over who pays for the power. Entergy Arkansas, not the city utility, will serve the campus, partly from Cypress Solar, a $1.6 billion solar project. Documents Entergy says were accidentally released show Google paying $526 million upfront, about a third of the solar project's cost, with the rest funded by a nearly $6 monthly increase for Entergy ratepayers over 20 years. Entergy went to federal court to stop the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette from publishing further details, and a judge refused. At a legislative hearing in September 2026, Sen. Mark Johnson, co-chair of the Joint Energy Committee, held up his own Entergy bill with an added $22.81 from the new rider, and Sen. Matt McKee asked Entergy to explain why ratepayers pay for Cypress Solar if Google covers its costs: "Help me understand the process of why that benefits ratepayers, because unfortunately I don't think that's how most ratepayers look at that." Entergy says the rider only shifts the timing of costs and saves customers financing charges. A Google spokesperson said that in the long run the project will lower overall costs for residents. West Memphis Utilities says Google's infrastructure costs will not be passed on to its own customers.

Local leaders contrast Google with xAI across the river in Memphis, where gas turbines drew an NAACP lawsuit. "They had no air permits. They did no community focus groups," West Memphis Utilities general manager Bob Atkins said of xAI, adding, "that is not what happened here at all." Atkins said Elon Musk had planned a Tesla data center on the same West Memphis land before pulling out in 2024.

The cost questions now sit with the Arkansas Public Service Commission, which approved the rider under the Generating Arkansas Jobs Act of 2025, and with state lawmakers on the Joint Energy Committee.