Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in 2020. Image: World Economic Forum/Greg Beadle (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
The tech giant expects to create around 12,000 full-time jobs and to boost the economy of local communities through this investment.
Google plans to invest $9.5bn into its US offices and data centres over the next year.
The tech giant expects to create at least 12,000 new full-time jobs by the end of the year alongside this investment, adding to its 94,000 full-time staff throughout the country.
Over the past five years, Google said it has invested more than $37bn into its offices and data centres across 26 US states, creating 40,000 jobs.
The new investment plan was shared today (13 April) by Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who said Google’s offices and data centres help contribute to local economies and provide “vital anchors to our local communities”.
“It might seem counterintuitive to step up our investment in physical offices even as we embrace more flexibility in how we work,” Pichai said in a blogpost. The company is currently rolling out a hybrid work model that will see most staff physically present in offices at least three days a week.
“Yet we believe it’s more important than ever to invest in our campuses and that doing so will make for better products, a greater quality of life for our employees, and stronger communities,” Pichai added.
The investment plan covers multiple locations, including new offices in Austin and Atlanta, data centre investment across the US and continued housing support in California.
Google made a $1bn housing commitment in the Bay Area in 2019 to help create at least 20,000 homes at a range of income levels. Pichai also said in an interview with the Irish Independent in 2019 that subsidising general housing in Dublin is something the company would consider.
The Google CEO said the company expects thousands of jobs to be indirectly created in local communities in the US as a result of the fresh investment. He cited research from the Bay Area Council Economic Institute that said creating one job at a high-tech firm can lead to four jobs being made in the local economy.
Pichai also discussed the tech giant’s environmental plans, including the goal to have all its offices and data centres use carbon-free energy by 2030.
Yesterday (12 April), Google parent company Alphabet announced it was in a collaboration with Stripe and others to accelerate the development of permanent carbon removal tech. The companies plan to commit an initial $925m over the next nine years to purchase carbon removal from suppliers developing and scaling new technologies.
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Sundar Pichai at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in 2020. Image: World Economic Forum/Greg Beadle via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
