Google's Secret SuperComputer

The internet firm is building a complex the size of two football pitches with cooling towers four floors high on a remote stretch of land in Oregon.

It is thought to house two data centres and thousands of servers that will power the billions of search queries it handles daily, as well as an expanding range of other services.

The clandestine expansion on the 12-hectare site about 130 kilometres east of Portland is considered part of an "arms race" as other online companies vie for Google's crown.

Microsoft and Yahoo have announced they are building big data centres to the north, in Washington State.

More...