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Gov. Henry McMaster gives a speech ahead of an Oct. 4, 2022, groundbreaking ceremony in Myrtle Beach. Richard Caines/Staff
A map displays the future route of a dark fiber network across South Carolina. Richard Caines/Staff
DC Blox officials and local and state dignitaries break ground on a future Myrtle Beach data center on Oct. 4, 2022. Richard Caines/Staff
Gov. Henry McMaster gives DC Blox CEO Jeff Uphues a painting on Oct. 4, 2022. Richard Caines/Staff
Gov. Henry McMaster gives a speech ahead of an Oct. 4, 2022, groundbreaking ceremony in Myrtle Beach. Richard Caines/Staff
Gov. Henry McMaster gives DC Blox CEO Jeff Uphues a painting on Oct. 4, 2022. Richard Caines/Staff
MYRTLE BEACH — Myrtle Beach could soon become a major hub for internet traffic from across the globe as an Atlanta-based technology firm recently broke ground on a $31.5 million data center near Market Common.
DC Blox is set to bring an international subsea cable landing station that will digitally connect the Grand Strand to Europe and other continents, while also giving the startup company an opportunity to bring internet access to underserved areas across South Carolina when the multiyear project is scheduled to be finished in 2024.
Subsea or submarine cables are fiber-optic cables that connect countries across the world via garden-hosed sized cables which are laid on the ocean floor.
“This is indeed a really big day for Myrtle Beach. It’s a big day for Horry County and it’s even a bigger day for the state of South Carolina,” said DC Blox CEO Jeff Uphues at an Oct. 4 groundbreaking ceremony attended by local and state dignitaries as well as area business leaders.
When finished sometime next year, the 40,800-square-foot facility located on more than 21 acres in the International Technology and Aerospace Park will be DC Blox’s first data center in Horry County and its second in the state. The firm also operates a data center in Greenville.
Founded in 2014, the company additionally has data centers across the Southeast in Atlanta; Birmingham, Alabama; Huntsville, Alabama; and Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Company officials said after the Myrtle Beach hub located on the former Air Force base is finished, a nearly 500-mile dark fiber cable route will be constructed to link the subsea cable landing station to Atlanta by way of nine counties including Horry, Georgetown, Charleston, Berkeley, Dorchester, Orangeburg, Bamberg, Barnwell and Aiken.
A map displays the future route of a dark fiber network across South Carolina. Richard Caines/Staff
The fiber cable route across the state is slated to give nearly 2 million South Carolinians access to local content, regional cloud computing and wireless services.
“I’ve never heard of a cable landing station until a little while ago and I still don’t know what it is, but I’m glad to have one,” Gov. Henry McMaster said at the Oct. 4 groundbreaking. “This investment will attract and inspire the confidence of other investors and businesses as well as visitors.
“I’m confident that we are entering a new era of economic prosperity in South Carolina, unlike we have seen before, and I will say unlike anyone is going to see anywhere in the country.”
Sandy Davis, president of the Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corp., said the organization targeted the technology industry for more than a decade to help diversify the local economy.
DC Blox will be the first tech firm to set up shop at the 460-acre International Technology and Aerospace Park, an area adjacent to the Myrtle Beach International Airport that officials hope will become a hub for the aerospace and technology industry.
DC Blox officials and local and state dignitaries break ground on a future Myrtle Beach data center on Oct. 4, 2022. Richard Caines/Staff
“We have marketed this park for a very long time and this was a dream of ours to see it come to fruition,” Davis said.
Myrtle Beach Mayor Brenda Bethune said projects like DC Blox do not just happen overnight, requiring a partnership between the city, county and state.
“This $31.5 million (project) is proof that we are uniquely positioning ourselves to be much more than a great vacation destination alone,” Bethune said. “It is the foundational infrastructure that will allow us to broaden our knowledge-based economy as well as our knowledge-based jobs.
“The future of network infrastructure is coming to Myrtle Beach and we could not be more proud.”
Follow Richard Caines on Twitter at @rickcaines
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