Google to invest $13bn in US-wide data centre and office expansion

Google has earmarked US$13bn to invest in new data centres and offices across the US.

Through the investment, Google will expand its presence across the country and add thousands of employees to its payroll in 2019. 

The search engine firm has pledged to expand across 14 states including Georgia, South Carolina and Ohio, in a bid to expand its footprint beyond the San Francisco Bay Area.

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“With this new investment, Google will now have a home in 24 total states, including data centres in 13 communities. 2019 marks the second year in a row we’ll be growing faster outside of the Bay Area than in it,” wrote Google CEO, Sundar Pichai, in a blog post.

In the last year, Pichai highlighted that Google has “hired more than 10,000 people in the US and made over $9bn in investments.”

Pichai said that Google will make substantial data centre investments, which will help improve its customer service.

To ensure it’s growing footprint doesn’t come at the expense of the environment, Google will also make significant renewable energy investments in the US.

“Our data centres make a significant economic contribution to local communities, as do the associated $5 billion in energy investments that our energy purchasing supports,” Pichai added.