Facebook chooses New Mexico for new data centre over Utah

Albuquerque (US): Facebook has chosen a village on the edge of New Mexico's largest metropolitan area as the location for its new data centre, an announcement that spread quickly as elected officials celebrated a hard-sought win that could have ripple effects for the state's struggling economy.

Yesterday's news of the social media giant's decision to build in Los Lunas, just south of Albuquerque, comes after a roller-coaster contest between New Mexico and Utah to attract the facility.

US Senator Martin Heinrich broke the news on social media, and the rest of the congressional delegation followed minutes later. Governor Susana Martinez in a statement welcomed what she described as a stellar, cutting-edge company. In Los Lunas, village officials were rejoicing.

"This is huge for the state of New Mexico, for the region, for the whole Southwest. This is a big win," said Ralph Mims, the village's economic development director.

The courting of Facebook began more than a year ago with a meeting between the Republican governor and Facebook executives. During a visit to California, Martinez and her economic development team pitched the sparsely populated state as a good place to do business.

New Mexico wasn't on the radar before that August 2015 meeting.

"With the improvements we've made over the past several years, New Mexico is finally competing again, and in this case, it's a big win for the people of our state and our economic future," the governor said.

While the project has enjoyed broad political support in New Mexico, local leaders in Utah pushed back against a tax-incentive plan they saw as too generous.

Utah supporters said the project would bring a high-tech cachet that could draw other companies to West Jordan, but critics said the cost was too high for land that could attract other development.

The village of Los Lunas, meanwhile, agreed to give up all property taxes for 30 years in exchange for annual payments from Facebook that start at USD 50,000 and top out at less than USD 500,000. The complex economic development agreement also involves tax breaks on billions of dollars in computer equipment over time.

In Utah, an initial USD 240 million tax-break plan publicly fell apart one night in August after several leaders said the lure was too rich. Talks were revived the next morning, but two weeks later, Utah Governor Gary Herbert said the deal looked dormant, if not dead.