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Facebook to build new data center in Fort Worth

A 3D plastic representation of the Facebook logo is seen in this illustration in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, May 13, 2015. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

By Yasmeen Abutaleb

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc announced plans on Tuesday to build a new data center in Fort Worth, Texas, its fourth in the United States and fifth overall.

Facebook will invest at least $500 million in the global data center, a spokesperson said, and will employ at least 40 full-time employees. The center will also be powered entirely by renewable energy, Tom Furlong, Facebook's vice president of infrastructure, wrote in a blog post.

As part of the deal, the 1.4-billion user social network brought 200 megawatts of new wind energy to Texas, Furlong wrote.

Facebook opened its first data center in Prineville, Oregon, in 2011. It has also built centers in Altoona, Iowa, Forest City, North Carolina and Lulea, Sweden.

(The story was refiled to fix a typographical error in the headline)

(Reporting By Yasmeen Abutaleb; Editing by Tom Brown)