Although Yahoo! bought the land for the centre three years ago, its plans ran into local opposition and work at the site only started on Thursday.

Yahoo! co-founder Jimmy Yang made a whistle-stop tour to the western town of Rolle this week, site of the company’s European headquarters, to present Yahoo!’s plans for Switzerland.

Rich Riley, Yahoo! director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said that the headquarters, currently on a site overlooking Rolle, was to be moved to a building now under construction beneath the motorway. The 100 or so current employees will start moving into the new building at the beginning of 2012. It will eventually have a staff of 160.

Riley said the company was growing and the sales, finance and human resources departments were to be built up.

As for the data centre in Avenches, it would employ only a handful of workers, he said.

The company describes the new centre, scheduled to open in 2012, as representing the ultimate in energy efficiency.

Locals had objected because they had feared the centre would depend on a controversial power line which they have been battling for many years.