General Motors (GM) has applied for a tax abatement for a US$258m data center it said it wants to build on an R&D site it operates in the Milford Township.

According to the Detroit Free Press, local councillors are due to discuss the request at a public hearing on March 20, which could see a 12-year tax abatement set for the 100,000 sq ft facility.

It follows the recent opening of the first of two data centers at GM’s Warren, Michigan campus, built as part of a major consolidation project.

General Motors has been placing a significant emphasis on its IT infrastructure and operations in recent years.

In October 2012 it announced it would hire about 3,000 IT staff currently working for HP who provide IT services to GM as part of CIO Randy Mott’s plan to bring more of its IT in house, in a move to “deliver increased innovation and speed of delivery to our GM business partners and reduce the cost of on going IT operations”.

Mott said GM is looking for better flexibility of its IT environment, and said the company wants to open a series of IT innovation centers, siting Austin, Texas and Warren, Michigan as two sites, but saying two others were under consideration.

As part of his revamp, Mott wants to reduce GM’s data center footprint, which includes about 23 data centers around the world.

The second phase of GM’s US$130m Warren project is scheduled for completion in 2015.

At its Milford site – the Milford Proving Ground – GM plans to hire 20 staff to man its data center.

It said it plans to spend US$88m on land and building improvements and will also spend $170m on equipment.