RICHMOND, Va. – Microsoft plans to expand its data center operation in Southside Virginia.

Gov. Ralph Northam announced Wednesday that the tech giant was going to make a “significant” investment at its operations in Mecklenburg County. He said the expansion will create 100 new jobs.

Northam approved a $1.5 million grant for the expansion. The company will also be eligible for the tax breaks for data centers. The data center tax breaks by are far the biggest type of business tax breaks the state offers.

A new report shows that sales and use tax exemptions for data centers accounted for more than $79.2 million in uncollected state revenue in fiscal 2018, a 21 percent annual jump.

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