Is Google hiding a data center project in North San Jose?

Google is seeking permits for a 250-megawatt facility in North San Jose ostensibly as an R&D lab, but architectural blueprints—showing substations, cooling towers, generator yards and server racks—suggest it is actually a data center. Local engineers and academics argue the power capacity and infrastructure specifications match large-scale data centres, not research facilities, and that Google is using R&D labelling to sidestep stricter data centre permitting and environmental review. If you're selling cooling systems, power distribution, or modular server enclosures into the Bay Area, Google just revealed a 250-megawatt project looking to dodge data centre oversight—watch the permitting outcome, because other cloud builders will follow Google's playbook if it works. The infrastructure bill for this one facility is likely half a billion dollars, and the winner won't be the company building the shell.