AT&T Telecommunications Provider to Locate Data Center in Kings Mountain.


CLEVELAND COUNTY – Gov. Bev Perdue today joined executives from AT&T Inc., the world’s largest communications company, in announcing they will locate an enterprise data center in Kings Mountain, the latest in a long line of investments by the company in North Carolina.
 
Gov. Perdue was joined by, among other company officials, Cynthia Marshall, President of AT&T North Carolina, and other state and local officials for the announcement in Cleveland County. 
 
The company plans to create more than 100 full-time jobs and invest more than $200 million to construct the facility in Kings Mountain. AT&T also plans to fill more than 1,000 construction-related jobs needed through 2013 to complete the data center. The facility is scheduled to open in 2014 and will help AT&T accommodate the company’s ever-growing computing and data storage needs.

“AT&T could have located this data center anywhere, but they chose North Carolina. Their decision is a testament to the excellent economic environment we’ve created for technology innovation in this state,” Gov. Perdue said. “With each evolution of AT&T’s business, from telephony to Internet service to wireless communication, we’ve seen the fruits of their investment here. This data center is just another sign of their commitment to North Carolina.”

AT&T has been doing business in North Carolina for more than 131 years. Today, the company provides an array of networking capabilities and is a leading provider of wireless, Wi-Fi, high speed Internet, voice and cloud-based services. It has continually invested in the state, including a DSL Technical Support Center in Goldsboro that opened in 2008 and created 400 jobs there. In addition, AT&T invested more than $1.8 billion across North Carolina from 2008 through 2011 to upgrade its wireless and wireline networks.
 
“AT&T is committed to investing in America in ways that help create jobs and get the economy moving, while also delivering the products and services that connect people with their world, everywhere they live and work,” Marshall said. “We appreciate the years of hard work by North Carolina’s visionary leaders, at both the state and local levels, who have made this state attractive for companies looking to invest and a good place to do business. Four years after opening a broadband technical support call center down east, in Goldsboro, we are thrilled to announce today that AT&T’s newest data center will be located in western North Carolina.”
 
The data center in Kings Mountain will create an estimated ongoing economic impact of $935 million over 10 years. This impact includes spending on annual goods and services to support the data center’s ongoing operations.

Other partners that helped with this project include: the N.C. Department of Commerce, N.C. Community Colleges, Cleveland County, City of Kings Mountain, Cleveland County Economic Development Partnership, Duke Energy, Gardner Webb University and N.C. Rural Economic Development Center.

For more information about AT&T Inc., including job opportunities, please visit www.att.com.