Google has opened its first pair of data centers for Asia in an attempt to serve the area's rapidly expanding internet use. Based in Singapore and Taiwan, the two centers should speed up performance of Google-based sites and services in the region. In a post announcing the centers' completion, Google notes the number of users accessing the internet, particularly through mobile devices, has rocketed in the two years it took to build the centers.

According to Google's figures, the number of internet users in India doubled from 100 million to 200 million, while 60 million people in Asia used the internet from a mobile device for the first time in just three months this year. The company notes that the majority of potential internet users live in Asia, so growth is expected to continue to be strong.

Google did have plans for a third data center in Hong Kong, but decided to scrap the idea. Instead, it's to spend more money expanding the capacity of the Taiwanese data center, the larger of the two sites. By the time the expansion is increased, the Taiwan center will have cost Google $600 million.