US automaker General Motors announced a plan to build a US$130m data center at its Warren, Michigan, campus. The facility is currently being designed and the plan is to complete the project sometime in 2015.

GM will consolidate its IT infrastructure into the new data center, eyeing operating cost savings and a 40% reduction in the infrastructure's energy use. The facility is being designed to qualify for the US Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, according to a GM news release.

GM VP and CIO Terry Kline said the company received a lot of support from both the Warren City government and from officials for the State of Michigan.

"This investment is possible because of the cooperation between GM, the Warren community and the Michigan Economic Growth Authority," he said in a statement. "We think the result is a win for everybody involved."

The data center will support IT labs, as well as monitoring GM's applications deployed around the world. It is being designed for modular-expansion capabilities.

The announcement was part of GM's $2bn investment in 17 facilities across eight US states.

The Warren campus, called the GM Technical Center, is on the National Register of Historic Places, a list of US's "historic places worth of preservation", according to the register's website. The campus was inaugurated in 1956.