Microsoft plans to build a US$1.1bn data center in Iowa, its second in the state.

The project, for which the company received tax breaks from the state, will expand infrastructure capacity for its cloud services, whose role in its overall business strategy has been quickly growing in importance.

Iowa governor Terry Brandstad announced the plan during a public meeting Friday, boasting the state's recent success in attracting large-scale construction projects and the economic-development boom they have created.

A number of $1bn-plus projects have started in Iowa over the past few years, most recent ones including a massive Facebook data center and a MidAmerican Energy wind farm, which will sell clean energy to the social networking giant.

The momentum in large-scale construction and growth of “Main Street” businesses has led to a new record in employment.

“We have more people employed in Iowa today than any time in our state’s history,” Brandstad said, citing newly released employment figures from the state's Workforce Development department.

Microsoft's future data center will be located in West Des Moines. In return for state tax incentives, the company has committed to employing a minimum of 66 people at the facility, but the Economic Development department said it expected the project to create more than 80 new jobs total.

As it increases focus on cloud services – of which it has hundreds – Microsoft has been rapidly expanding its already massive global data center infrastructure.

In February, the company launched two data centers in Japan, one in China, and a report of a plan to build a $9bn data center in Korea came out.

Late last year, Port of Quincy said Microsoft was going to buy a 200-acre property in Quincy, Washington, to expand data center capacity in its home state.