Switch plans to build its fifth major US data center campus in Texas at the global headquarters of Dell in Round Rock, Texas.

'The Rock' will span 1.5 million square feet (140,000 sq m), with site preparation and permitting at the campus expected to begin in the summer of 2021.

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Building big in Texas

The new facility comes as Switch is in the midst of acquiring Texan data center company Data Foundry for $420 million. Together with The Rock and DF's ~60MW facilities, Switch will operate 2 million sq ft (185,000 sq m) of space and 185MW of power.

“This is another transformative milestone in the growth of our company to further expand our geographic diversity to the central region of the US,” said Switch founder and CEO Rob Roy.

“To be strategically located alongside the Dell Technologies global headquarters is an opportunity to continue broadening our offerings of the world’s most advanced data center infrastructure to current and future Switch clients.”

The two companies last year announced that they would work together to build Edge data centers at FedEx locations across the US.

“Since Dell was founded in 1984, we’ve seen Central Texas grow into a technology and innovation hub to the benefit of the entire community,” said Dell CEO Michael Dell.

“With this agreement, we welcome Switch to a wonderful neighborhood, and at the same time continue to expand our relationships with leading data center service providers.”

Switch's four existing large data center hubs consist of two in Nevada (Tahoe Reno covering the northeast, and Las Vegas covering the southeast) and two in the East - the Pyramid in Grand Rapids, Michigan; and the Keep in Atlanta, Georgia.