Silicon beach? Tech company to locate in Myrtle Beach, bringing on ‘new era’
The tech firm DC BLOX announced on Tuesday plans to expand its footprint across the Southeast to the Myrtle Beach area.
And DC BLOX CEO Jeff Uphues, in a statement, indicated his firm’s investment in Horry County will allow a tech sector to flourish here.
“The Southeast is exploding with opportunity, and investments in digital infrastructure are key to its growth,” he said. “Our continued investments in data centers and fiber network infrastructure are a benefit to hyper-scalers, carriers and enterprises across the region.”
County officials agree.
“It is a new era for the state,” said Sandy Davis, the CEO of the Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corporation.
The expansion is slated to bring three new tech jobs to the area, but has the potential grow Horry County’s fledgling technology sector.
That’s because DC BLOX owns and operates what are called data centers that it rents to other firms. Those data centers are large buildings full of computer servers that allow companies to process vast amounts of data used to run their businesses and connect to the cloud.
DC BLOX’s data center will also serve as an anchor for subsea cables that will boost internet and telecommunication service across the country.
Google announced last year that it plans to build and install the world’s longest subsea cable, starting in Myrtle Beach and ending in Argentina. The cable will include 12 “fiber pairs” and “carry traffic quickly and securely between North and South America,” Google officials said.
Davis compared DC BLOX’s connection to Google’s subsea cable to an interstate exit.
The subsea cable, she said, “is like an interstate but in the water. This particular cable is going to run from Myrtle Beach to Argentina but along that way there will be exits. It can exit anywhere it passes.”
The cables will run along the coast and connect to DC BLOX’s planned facility at the International Technology & Areospace Park, just South of the airport. The ITAP is located in Myrtle Beach but is owned and managed by Horry County.
That connection — from Google to DC BLOX — is what holds the potential for additional tech companies to locate in the ITAP or in the Myrtle Beach area, Davis said.
Google’s project, plus DC BLOX’s subsea cable connection, is a first for South Carolina, Davis said. Technology firms around the state are expected to plug into Google’s cable, she said.
DC BLOX’s facility will cover 40,000 square feet and will hold the computer servers needed to connect to the subsea cables and link the infrastructure to the cloud.
As part of an agreement between the company and the county, Davis said, DC BLOX will pay the 6% property tax rate instead of the 10.5% rate it would have paid without the agreement. No cash incentives were part of the package, Davis said. Horry County Council approved that incentive package earlier this month.
The company’s Myrtle Beach-area facility amounts to a $31.5 million investment, state officials said Tuesday.
Davis said DC BLOX is expected to bring five additional tech companies to the ITAP that will use its servers.
Horry County Council Chairman Johnny Gardner, too, celebrated the fact that tech companies were finally choosing to set up shop in the empty ITAP.
“DC BLOX will be the start to an empty aerospace and technology park that we feel will flourish,” Gardner said in a statement Tuesday. “I look forward to following the success of this company and the effect it will have on our county.”
Gov. Henry McMaster and Secretary of Commerce Harry M. Lightsey III also celebrated DC BLOX’s expansion.
DC BLOX opened a similar facility in Greenville in January and is currently working to expand it, according to the company.
This story was originally published May 10, 2022 at 12:51 PM.
