Data centers have become essential infrastructure for modern life. From streaming and telecommunications to artificial intelligence, cloud software and everyday financial transactions, much of what people do each day depends on the digital infrastructure housed inside them.
In episode 5 of Richmond Next, Greater Richmond Partnership president and CEO Jennifer Wakefield speaks with Cathie Vick, Google’s Virginia market development and advocacy lead, and Evan Owen, vice president of marketing at Henrico-based Hyper Solutions, about Greater Richmond’s growing role in the mission-critical data center industry.
Kathy Bick, Google’s Virginia market development and advocacy lead
The infrastructure behind everyday life
Vick describes data centers as the modern equivalent of the server rooms businesses once maintained inside their offices — only at a vastly larger scale.
Today, these mission critical facilities support everything from Google Workspace and YouTube to Gemini and countless other digital services. They form the backbone that allows information to move between people and businesses.
Owen compared that role to physical transportation infrastructure. Just as roads move people and goods, data centers move information.
That dependence is also why the industry uses the term “mission critical.” With such a large share of economic and daily activity relying on digital infrastructure, facilities must operate continuously and reliably.
Why Greater Richmond?
Several factors have helped make Greater Richmond attractive for data center investment, including available land, water, power and a skilled workforce.
In Chesterfield County, large contiguous sites provide the space required for major campuses. The region’s workforce development infrastructure is another important advantage.
Vick pointed to resources such as electrical apprenticeship and training programs that can create a pipeline of skilled workers for mission critical facilities and the industries that support them.
For companies like Hyper Solutions, major data center investments also create opportunities far beyond the companies operating the facilities themselves.
Hyper Solutions engineers and validates products used in mission-critical environments, then partners with small and midsized manufacturers across the country to build them. Several of those manufacturing partners are located in Virginia.
The result is a broader supply-chain effect that allows companies that might otherwise struggle to enter the data center industry to participate in its growth.
Evan Owen, vice president of marketing at Henrico-based Hyper Solutions
A much larger employment story
One misconception surrounding data centers is that they create relatively few jobs.
Vick and Owen said the reality is more complex.
Data centers generate direct jobs such as engineering, operations and facilities positions. They also support indirect jobs through construction, manufacturing, electrical work and other suppliers. Additional economic activity supports businesses ranging from catering and landscaping to other local services.
Construction itself can take 18 to 24 months for each building on a data center campus, with multiple buildings often developed over time.
Once operational, Vick said a typical campus can employ more than 300 full-time workers while also supporting hundreds of vendors and contractors working on-site.
The facilities themselves can operate for decades, extending their economic impact well beyond the initial construction period.
Building the workforce
Virginia’s concentration of mission critical facilities is also creating intense demand for skilled workers.
Google recently committed $50 million toward training electricians and skilled trades workers in Virginia, an investment aimed at strengthening the workforce pipeline as the industry expands.
The effort includes programs reaching students at several stages — from digital literacy and AI education in elementary and middle schools to career and technical education, apprenticeships and electrical training programs.
Vick said the investment is expected to help train thousands of workers, including roughly 3,000 in the Richmond area.
Owen noted that the need extends throughout manufacturing and construction. Electricians and mechanical, electrical and plumbing professionals have become particularly important as companies compete for workers capable of building highly specialized facilities.
Richmond Next is a collaboration between the Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Greater Richmond Partnership highlighting the leaders, investments and ideas shaping Greater Richmond’s future.
To listen to and watch episode 5 of Richmond Next, please click here.
