General Motors Co said it is investing $546 million in two new Michigan data centers in hopes it will free up millions of dollars to boost vehicle quality more quickly.
The largest U.S. automaker unveiled a $288 million data center in the Detroit suburb of Warren on Monday, which went online in January. Construction of a $258 million companion center at the GM vehicle proving grounds in Milford, Michigan, will begin this summer.
GM officials said the centers will help engineers to spot and solve problems more quickly than when it outsourced about 90 percent of its information technology (IT) needs.
"We had five, six key suppliers of IT services and each one of them had their own little control center, and we couldn't see any of what was going on in our network," Chief Executive Dan Akerson told reporters at a media event in Warren.
"Today we can look into our plants, our production, where supply chain is a problem or an asset," said Akerson.
In the next five years, GM aims to bring 90 percent of its IT work within the company. The two new data centers will get new vehicle designs and technologies to consumers faster and boost the company's bottom line, the company said.