Google expanding in South America with Chile data centre

Google is setting up a data centre in Chile to ensure that its users across Latin America have fast and reliable access to its services.

Construction is beginning on the data centre, which is coming up in the municipality of Quilicura, near the capital city Santiago, the company announced.

"As internet usage in Latin America grows, people are looking for information and entertainment, new business opportunities and better ways to connect with friends and family near and far," Google said.

"We're building this data centre to make sure that our users across Latin America and the world have the fastest and most reliable access possible to all of Google's services," it added.

The company already has six data centres in the US, besides one in Finland, and another in Belgium.

It also announced plans last year to set up data centres in Asia which will be located in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan, as demand for its services picks up in the region.

The company plans to bring the Chile facility online by the end of 2013. The Hong Kong and Taiwan data centres are also expected to be brought online by next year, with construction at Singapore also expected to be completed by then.

Google and its video sharing site YouTube are among the top five websites in a number of countries in South America including Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Venezuela, according to web information company, Alexa. The one-month rank is calculated using a combination of average daily visitors and pageviews over the past month.

Google expects its long-term investment in the Chile data centre will reach $150 million, which it claims will be one of the most efficient and environmentally friendly in Latin America, built to the standards it uses around the world.

The data centre will employ up to 20 people once it is fully operational in a variety of full-time and contractor roles, including computer technicians, engineers and catering and security staff, Google said.