FACEBOOK TO BUILD MASSIVE DATA CENTER IN NORTH CAROLINA

North Carolina sure is proving popular with tech companies looking to set up huge data centers. First Apple built itself a huge data facility there, which is rumored to be the backbone to their ambitions for bringing iTunes to the cloud… but now Facebook is entering the state to build a new, top-of-the-line data center in Forest City, North Carolina.

“This project continues Facebook’s strategy of moving from leased data centers to owned facilities that are customized to be more cost-effective and efficient,” Barry Schnitt, a Facebook spokesman, wrote on the social network’s official site.

According to North Carolina Governor Bev Persue, the facility will cost about $450 million to build, and the construction will create 250 jobs during its 18-month building phase; one it’s completed, it will then employ between 35 and 45 full time and contract workers.

This isn’t the first new data facility the information hungry social network has built recently. They previously began building a facility in Prineville, Oregon, which is scheduled to open up next year, albeit amongst some controversy: the facility will be getting its electricity largely from coal. That’s an environmental no-no these days, but Facebook has argued (rather lamely) that the design of the facility is efficient enough that it would offset the environmental use of coal.

That’s hard to believe, but either way, the new North Carolina facility won’t be subject to the same criticisms: it’s coal use is well within line with the national average, and the use of clean nuclear power is 39 percent, which is about double the national average. If North Carolina’s clean enough for eco-friendly Apple, it ought to be clean enough for Facebook. [Geek]