UnitedHealth, a company that provides health insurance and a number of other services to the healthcare industry, is planning to build a new data center in Chaska, Minn., according to a Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal report. The project is expected to cost $100-$150 million.

This will be the company's second data center in the state, adding to its 190,000-square-foot facility in Elk River, which cost the company $125 million. The new data center will be similar in size and, according to the Business Journal, will be one of the largest commercial development projects in the region this year.

City-owned utility Chaska Electric will supply power to the new facility, which will be part of the new West Creek Corporate Center, a business park development project that was approved by the Chaska City Council earlier this week.

The announcement comes at a time when large enterprises are increasingly looking at outsourcing to third-party data center providers when they need to expand IT capacity. Tight capital markets and the ability of data center-focused companies to bring the cost of construction down makes for a strong business case for outsourcing and analysts predict that more and more companies will use colocation providers instead of building themselves.