<p>SALEM, Ore. — Facebook is growing its footprint in Oregon, announcing Thursday that it will expand its data center in Prineville — already the social media giant’s largest in the United States.</p>
<p>The move coincides with the company nearing completion of bringing a fiber-optic cable ashore in Tierra del Mar, Oregon. Crossing the Pacific Ocean, it will link multiple U.S. locations, including Facebook’s huge data center in Prineville, with Japan and the Philippines.</p>
<p>“Facebook has the need to expand its global infrastructure because of the growth in use of its apps and services,” Amy Hunter, a spokeswoman for the company, said in an email Thursday.</p>
<p>The company said it will be expanding its site in the central Oregon town of Prineville by 900,000 square feet by adding two new buildings. </p>
<p>“Once completed, this 11-building campus — which, at nearly 4.6 million square feet, is Facebook’s largest data center in the U.S. — will represent an investment of more than $2 billion,” the company statement said.</p>
<p>The California-based company first completed a 300,000-square-foot data center in Prineville 2011, attracted by the high desert’s cool nights that keep servers cool, and by a 15-year abatement on property taxes. </p>
<p>Within months, it began building a second. More followed, all on a bluff above Prineville, a town of about 10,000. </p>
<p>Facebook’s statement quoted Oregon Rep. Vikki Breese-Iverson, a Republican whose district includes Prineville.</p>
<p>“They have shown what a partnership between a small community and large corporation can be in rural Oregon," Breese-Iverson said.</p>
<p>Rick Steber, a Prineville businessman, was less enthusiastic.</p>
<p>“I do realize there is a need for the services provided by Facebook and Apple centers, but it’s that old adage, not in my backyard,” Steber told the Bulletin, a newspaper in nearby Bend. “They are an eyesore when viewed from anywhere on the north side of Prineville.</p>
