Google reportedly announced today that it will invest about $9.5 billion in u.s. offices and data centers this year, up from $7 billion last year. Google said the investment would create at least 12,000 full-time jobs, with the focus on data centers in several states, including Nevada, Nebraska and Virginia.
In addition, Google will open a new office in Atlanta this year and expand its data center in Storey County, Nevada. Google said in a statement: at a time when we are embracing a more flexible way of working (hybrid), it seems counterintuitive to invest more in physical offices. but we still believe that investing in our campus is more important than ever.
Earlier this month, google reopened its offices, requiring employees to work at the company three days a week, with the remaining two days allowed to work from home, the so-called “hybrid office” model.
Laszlo Bock, a former director of human resources at Google, said that the “mixed office” model spawned by the epidemic is unsustainable, and it is expected that employees will return to the office in 3 to 5 years.
As part of the investment, Google will continue to invest in its office in its home country (California) and support the San Francisco bay area affordable housing program, which is also part of its $1 billion housing investment plan.
Google says it has invested more than $37 billion in offices and data centers in 26 u.s. states over the past five years, creating more than 40,000 full-time jobs. that doesn’t include the more than $40 billion in r&d funding invested in the u.s. in 2020 and 2021.
Today, Google also released its 2021 economic impact report, which aims to reflect google’s broader contribution to the economy. Google provided $617 billion in economic activity to millions of u.s. merchants, nonprofits, creators, developers and publishers last year, according to the report.
In addition, the Android app economy helped create nearly 2 million jobs last year, while YouTube’s creative ecosystem supported 394,000 jobs in 2020.