HEAVY EQUIPMENT: A drill rig to be used to facilitate cable landings for the Alupang Data Center sits at the work site Oct. 6 in Tamuning. Construction on the project is expected to be completed by late 2024. John O'Connor/The Guam Daily Post
THE FIRST SHOVELS OF DIRT: Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero, center, joins officials from GTA as they break ground Thursday for a data center in Alupang, Tamuning. Jonah Benavente/The Guam Daily Post
HEAVY EQUIPMENT: A drill rig to be used to facilitate cable landings for the Alupang Data Center sits at the work site Oct. 6 in Tamuning. Construction on the project is expected to be completed by late 2024. John O'Connor/The Guam Daily Post
THE FIRST SHOVELS OF DIRT: Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero, center, joins officials from GTA as they break ground Thursday for a data center in Alupang, Tamuning. Jonah Benavente/The Guam Daily Post
GTA leadership held a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday in Tamuning, marking the start of construction for the Alupang Data Center, a world-class-designed and engineered data center facility and cable landing station, according to the telecom company.
"Our ongoing investments demonstrate Guam's strategic importance as a global and sophisticated communications hub of the Pacific. We are committed to providing vast technological opportunities, enhancing our competitive edge, strengthening the island's infrastructure and accelerating ongoing digital transformations in our community," GTA board Chair Paul Huntsman said in a press release on the event.
GTA is owned by Utah-based Huntsman Family Investments, of which Paul Huntsman is the president and CEO.
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The data center is anticipated to be completed by the third quarter of 2024.
Resting on-site Thursday, just a short walk away from the mound of dirt and pop-up tarp prepared for the shovel-turning ceremony, was a drill rig.
"We're going to do what is known as horizontal direct drilling. We need to install these pipes that will allow the cables to come in up from the water into the data center. Instead of the traditional cut and cover ... we're going to go down at an angle and pop up beyond the reef," GTA Chief Operating Officer Andrew Gayle said, looking out toward the ocean, which rose through a clearing in the tree line across from the work site.
"So, the cable ship will come in. After we drill these pipes underneath all this ground, then they can bring the cables in that way," Gayle added.
It will probably take about six to seven months to complete the drilling, with construction on the facility to take place after that, Gayle said.
A few lawmakers attended Thursday's groundbreaking, as did Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero.
In August 2021, lawmakers passed a bill authorizing a submerged land license agreement between the Chamorro Land Trust Commission and GTA for the landing of submarine cables at Alupang, Tamuning. The agreement allows for up to six fiber-optic cable systems at the Alupang reef flat and channel.
Each cable system will come with a $100,000 landing fee and annual license payments of $100,000. The agreement consists of an initial 25-year term, with two five-year options to renew.
"The way the law is written, as soon as that cable lands, then those payments start kicking in to the CLTC. So we have to drill the holes to allow (the cables) to land first," Gayle said. "We're working with the consortium, the cable provider who's going to be working on when they're going to be bringing in their cables."
GTA selected Nova and Amorient as the design-builder for the project. What will eventually become a two-story 31,000-square-foot data center will provide "best-in-class co-location, reliable and stable power, and on-island fiber connectivity to meet the demands of modern enterprises, technology and content service providers," GTA stated in its release.
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