Google To Invest $7B In US Office, Data Center Expansion

Alphabet’s GOOGLGOOG Google is planning to invest $7 billion in United States real estate this year, with $1 billion for the company’s home state of California.

What To Know: CEO Sundar Pichai made the announcement in a posting on the company’s blog and framed the financing of new offices and data centers as a strategy within the nation’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“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,” he wrote, adding that the new allocation of funds for real estate will “create at least 10,000 new full-time Google jobs in the U.S. this year.”

Where It’s Happening: California will receive the lion’s share of the new endeavor’s funds, with Pichai promising investments in Google’s offices across the state. The company is budgeting $250 million for an investment fund to develop affordable housing initiatives in the Bay Area, with Pichai forecasting the creation of 24,000 housing units by 2029.

Google will grow its office presence in Atlanta, the Boston suburb of Cambridge, Chicago, New York, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C., with Pichai noting these urban expansions “will help bring more jobs and investment to diverse communities as part of our previously announced racial equity commitments.” Data center expansions are scheduled for data center expansions in Nebraska, Nevada, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia.

Pichai also highlighted the company’s plans to open an operations center in Southaven, Mississippi, a new office in Houston and an office building in Reston, Virginia. The new real estate expansion will continue efforts that began earlier this year with the opening of the Google’s first Minnesota office in Rochester and a new data center in Midlothian, Texas.

“Not only will these investments enable us to create new opportunities in the places where we operate, they’ll also make it possible to provide products and services that help boost economic recovery,” Pichai said.

Construction is underway at Google’s Bay View campus in Mountain View, California. Image provided by Google; photograph by C. McAnneny of Heatherwick Studio)