Google has been revealed as the company behind a $500 milllion data center project near Lima, Ohio.

As reported by Home Town Stations, the data center development in American Township, Allen County, known to date as "Project BOSC," will be used by Google, the tech giant's third data center in the state.

Of the planned $500 million investment from Google, $50 million will be used to upgrade local infrastructure, including roundabouts at Bluelick Road and North Cole Street, and State Route 115 and North Cole Street.

Other infrastructure improvements include a $13.6m investment in the local water infrastructure.

Google will also provide $250,000 in annual funding to Elida Local Schools as a result of a 15-year tax abatement offset agreement.

According to a LinkedIn post from the Allen Economic Development Group, construction is expected to begin sometime in 2026 and aims to be completed by 2030. Work will begin once all permits have been finalized, with Google still awaiting a decision from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency on a draft air permit for 115 diesel-fueled generators at the site.

A water ordinance for five million gallons daily was secured for the project in September 2025.

"We have had the privilege to experience the skilled workforce and collaborative nature of the communities in Ohio for many years. We look forward to extending this partnership in Lima and Allen County with a forward-thinking leadership team," said Molly Kocour Boyle, head of Midwest data center public affairs at Google.

"Thousands of jobs will come in with construction and contractors who will be constructing the data center, and not to mention, where are all these contractors going to stay - they're going to stay in our hotels and eat our food at our restaurants and shop at our stores," added Cindy Leis, president and CEO of the Allen Economic Development Group (AEDG).

"But the trickle-down effect is going to be, I think, what's going to be long-lasting, as other companies associated with data centers will be wanting to come here."

Details about the actual data center - including size and power capacity - have yet to be shared. The AEDG has said, however, that it will soon provide details about the project on its website.

An unnamed data center project was first proposed in December 2024 in American Township. Details were sparse at the time, but it was said that a company was considering a 170-acre site on North Cole Street between Beery and Irvin Roads, which could host up to three data centers.

Lima is located in northwestern Ohio. The area currently has three data centers, operated by Microtronix, Form8tion, and Brightspeed. Most of the state's data centers are located around Columbus.

Elsewhere in Ohio, Google is developing a 500,000 sq ft (46,452 sqm), $1 billion data center project in Franklin Furnace.

Google first entered Ohio in 2019 when the company broke ground on its New Albany data center worth $600m. That year, the company added an additional $1bn commitment for the construction of the Columbus and Lancaster data centers. In 2021, the company planned a $1bn data center expansion at the New Albany site.

In 2023, Google committed a further $1.7bn to the Buckeye State, followed by another $2.3bn last year. In June 2025, the company purchased 85 acres of land outside Columbus.