Secrecy surrounds Google’s latest endeavour, a mysterious four-storey structure being built in the heart of San Francisco Bay.
The tech giant is managing to conceal its creation by constructing it on docked barges, rather than on land, where city building permits and public plans are mandatory.
The search engine firm’s actions appear legal, but rumours are running rife over what it is the company is actually building.
It has been suggested that Google will unveil a store, or even a data centre powered by wave action, technology for which the firm has a patent.
Cooling is a big cost for data centres and putting one in the water could help cut such expenditure, but equally the water could damage the servers.
The Day newspaper in Connecticut learned from a Freedom of Information request that Google is not only building at the barge at Pier 1, Treasure Island Marina, but also another barge near Maine on the East Coast.
The publication reported that the documents did not explain what the barge would be used for, but outlined a plan to "operate" the barge in different US ports starting in New York.
