Google to invest $7B on providing 10,000 jobs, expand U.S. office spaces and data centers

Tech giant Google has announced another major investment it is set to add to its investment portfolio.

As the U.S. begins its journey to post-pandemic recovery, Google has indicated an interest in supporting the recovery efforts by investing $7 billion with plans to expand office spaces and data centers across the country. It also said it will create 10,000 new full-time jobs at the company, according to a blog post.

Google also aims to expand into 19 communities across the United States, and invest more in those that are new to Google. Its California headquarters will receive more than $1 billion in investments.

“Coming together in-person to collaborate and build community is core to Google’s culture, and it will be an important part of our future,” Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet Inc. “So we continue to make significant investments in our offices around the country, as well as our home state of California, where we will be investing over $1 billion this year.”

In its latest announcement, Google said 2020 was the year it hired its largest number of Black and Latinx employees in the U.S. It said it hopes to do more by bringing more jobs, opportunities, and investments of communities of color to commit to its previous racial equity pledges.

Towards the end of last year, Google said it had slowed down the hiring process for the remainder of 2020 as it planned to recalibrate “the focus and pace” of its investments in data centers and machines. At the end of 2020, Google has 135,300 staff and said it will allow employees to work from home until July 2021.

In February, Alphabet Inc. released figures for its Google Cloud business for the first time. The unit has an operating loss of $1.2 billion in the fourth quarter. In a statement on Tuesday, the company revealed that its cloud business lost $5.6 billion. According to Bloomberg reports.

“An important element of our operating loss is that we have been building out our organization ahead of revenue, and that includes our product portfolio, the network of data centers,” said Rith Porat, the chief financial officer of Alphabet and Google in an interview with Bloomberg Television.

Besides investing in expanding U.S. office spaces and job creation, Google will also expand its data centers, which power Google’s services including the search engine, emails, maps, photos, etc., across Nebraska, Nevada, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia. It will also ensure that its sites are fully functional this year.

According to Google, data centers are embedded into the fabric of society as they link supply chain partners and small businesses, support distance learning, and other benefits. The company said support for data centers is very important.

Besides growth, Google is committed to increasing its economic impact through its offerings that will ultimately boost post-pandemic economic recovery.

The company’s 2021 investment will reportedly span across major regions of America including the southeast, Midwest, and central parts of the country.