Google says it doubles the office.
The unit of Alphabet Inc. said it would spend $ 7 billion this year expanding its U.S. office and data center footprint, including pouring $ 1 billion into its home state of California. The search engine giant said it would hire at least 10,000 new full-time staff during the year in anticipation of a recovery from the US pandemic.
The spending commitment follows a slowdown in Google’s investment about a year ago as the scale of the Covid-19 crisis began to take shape. Last April, Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai told staff in a memorandum that Google would delay hiring amid the pandemic.
Like other large technology companies, Google has flourished over the past year, benefiting from a rapid shift in online advertising spending. Despite the growth, US investment planned for 2021 is below pre-pandemic levels; it invested an average of $ 11 billion annually in 2018 and 2019.
The company said that this year’s investment plan is focused on existing sites, but that it will also create three new office premises in Minnesota, Texas and North Carolina, which will expand Google’s presence to 19 states. The company said it would add thousands of roles to existing sites in Atlanta, Washington, DC, Chicago and New York, which would increase a year-long pressure to expand its footprint beyond Silicon Valley. As of last year, Alphabet has reported more than 135,000 employees worldwide.