Microsoft eyes Silicon Valley expansion with 65-acre land buy

By published

Microsoft has snatched up a large chunk of land in San Jose as it plans for an expansion in Silicon Valley.

Microsoft logo
Microsoft logo (Image credit: Windows Central)

According to The Mercury News (via Neowin), Microsoft has purchased 65 acres of land in San Jose. The plot of land, which reportedly cost Microsoft $73.2 million, sits along State Route 237 between Alviso and Milpitas.

Microsoft looks to be eyeing the land as a site for expanding its cloud infrastructure. In a statement to The Mercury News, Microsoft Cloud Infrastructure and Operations manager Christian Belady confirmed as much, stating:

We continuously explore opportunities to meet the needs of a future based on cloud computing and internet services, so we're thrilled to find a great one in the heart of Silicon Valley

According to development options on file with the city of San Jose, the project, referred to as "237 Industrial Center," could include up to 1.2 million square feed of light industrial facilities. Another option would allot up to 437,000 square feet for a data center and up to 728,000 square feet for light industrial facilities.

Dan Thorp-Lancaster
Dan Thorp-Lancaster

Dan Thorp-Lancaster is the Editor in Chief for Windows Central. He began working with Windows Central as a news writer in 2014 and is obsessed with tech of all sorts. You can follow Dan on Twitter @DthorpL and Instagram @heyitsdtl. Got a hot tip? Send it to daniel.thorp-lancaster@futurenet.com.
32 Comments
  • Expansion or consolidation?  One would think that the corporation is shrinking dramatically thus requiring less space.
  • Its part of their retrenchment strategy.
  • You realise Microsoft make more money annually now than ever? In fact the last 5 years have been their highest profits the company has ever seen. Just because they don't have a phone market, means absolutely nothing. They are leading many many fields. Things the average phone consumer wouldn't understand in the slightest. 
  • Exactly like IBM
  • They're making more money but not investing in their future. 
  • Investing on what they believe is the future isn't investing in their future?
  • Hey man, people on WC know the future and whats important in it!
  • Are you maybe dumb?
  • According to you.
  • You do not need a mobile plataform to win on mobile field.
  • If they were consolidating, they wouldn't be buying some of the most expensive land in the country.
  • Of course for cloud.
  • Why buying land? Everything inside Nadella's head is about the cloud. MS should buy a couple of clouds, and move its HQ to a helicarrier.
  • omg..funniest post of the day!!!
  • Hahahhahaah
  • Is Amazon AWS already on this helicarrier?
  • $1.12 million per acre....They got ripped off!
  • Not at Millpitas with $561 Median list price / sq ft The above test has a link, click on it. Also see this posting 0 Dixon Rd, Milpitas, CA 95035. 0.34 acre Lot/Land  $950,000 https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/0-Dixon-Rd-Milpitas-CA-95035/20929828...
  • There is something not correct with your math...
    The site is on a landfill, meaning it was previously part of the bay! Building a data center on this landfill will be costly, huge foundation piles and mat slab needed to make a 100-year life span building!
  • Man.... that expansion will look pretty nice as a docking station to the Apple space ship building.
  • They could move the Groove team there... Oh, wait a minute.
  • ha ha...I could have sold them 85 acres of land her for 1/2 that and still retired!
  • If you want to see the land enter 37.425962, -121.929027 in your map of choice. The land is right next to the San Jose powerplant and near the San Jose water treatment plant. So don't expect any glamorous offices to be build here. This will be a server farm
  • Honest question- why build a data or cloud center in Silicon Valley? I imagined you'd build these things in places where land, energy and cooling are cheap-- though still in proximity to some kind of tech infrastructure.
  • Perhaps MS wants to connect to Bay Area tech companies via underground fiber cables for their cloud needs....Ohh, it wouldn't be cloud ☁ anymore since it's directly connected...
  • They are being environmentally friendly and using a direct raw sewage feed to cool their new data centre.
  • Over MS. **** this company.
  • This expansion surprise me.
  • Everything MS does surprises me these days.
  • Making more money but still fail at hire a proper graphic designer 🤔
  • Prove: Look at this page: https://login.microsoftonline.com/common/oauth2/logout
  • The reality is most people on WC were here when it was WP Central and mobile is very dear to their hearts and the lack of mobile support is hurting them. However, most of the WP fans are still trapped in the past and not seeing that MSFT is in fact working on mobile. The first Windows 10A devices will hit the market in the next 45 days and investments in ARM, Progressive Web Apps (PWA), and C-Shell are all part of the future mobile movement and having access to all Windows 10 apps that are not on mobile like Sling TV, Trello, iTunes, Spotify, and so many others will be awesome. I personally can't wait to get away from "Windows Phone" and "Windows 10 Mobile" and just use Windows 10 period