Facebook is the mystery company behind plans for a massive $750 million data center in New Albany, sources have told The Dispatch.

The international social-media giant is expected to formally announce the project next week, according to the sources familiar with the plans who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the topic.

On July 31, the Ohio Tax Credit Authority approved state tax incentives with an estimated value of $37.1 million for a project known only as Sidecat. Local incentives also have been approved.

Since then, local and state economic-development officials have declined to identify Sidecat. Facebook did not return an email seeking comment.

Facebook has been developing its own data centers in the United States and Europe to store the rapidly growing number of photos, videos and other materials the company's 2 billion monthly users are posting.

The company told analysts last month that it expects $7 billion to $7.5 billion in capital spending this year.

"We are ramping up our infrastructure investments to support global growth and anticipate more data-center building activity in the second half of this year," David Wehner, Facebook's CFO, told analysts on July 26 after the company released its second-quarter financial results.

Facebook's website lists nine data centers.

The Facebook data center will be built in western Licking County on a 345-acre site east of Beech Road and south of Route 161, according to a fact sheet prepared by the city of New Albany. The center will be 900,000 square feet, or more than 15 football fields.

Central Ohio was a finalist two years ago for a Facebook data center that ended up being built in Fort Worth, Texas.

The New Albany project is to create 50 permanent jobs with an annual salary of $80,000, plus 1,000 construction jobs. The data center is expected to open in 2022.

It is the latest in what has become several data-center projects to be developed in the region in recent years. Amazon has spent an estimated $1.1 billion on data centers in New Albany, Dublin and Hilliard. Denver-based Cologix announced last fall that it plans to build a $130 million data center on the company's campus on the Far North Side.

The region has become a key hub for cloud computing, offering fiber networks that reach major cities on the East and West coasts, Cologix said.

Demand is being driven by factors such as the shift by businesses away from having their own data centers to relying on third parties, said Grant Van Rooyen, Cologix's president and CEO.

The region has ideal weather for data centers in that there is little risk of flooding, earthquakes or tornadoes compared with other regions, Cologix said. Also, the region has ample supplies of electricity and labor.

"Business leaders are recognizing that outsourcing their data-center needs to experts generates a more efficient use of their resources, significantly benefits their financial upside and delivers better results," Van Rooyen said in a statement. "These results create reinvestment in their businesses, which makes them more competitive and drives the local economy forward."

mawilliams@dispatch.com

@BizMarkWilliams