Dive Brief:
- In 2019, Google plans to invest $13 billion in data centers in the U.S., said CEO Sundar Pichai, in a company blog post.
- "Major expansions" are set for 14 states, which will create 10,000 new construction opportunities for workers in Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Texas, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Virginia. The growth is set to give Google ground in 24 states.
- The existing Wisconsin office will move to a larger space, the workforce in Virginia is set to double, and Massachusetts will receive more offices. "2019 marks the second year in a row we'll be growing faster outside of the Bay Area than in it," said Pichai.
Dive Insight:
Silicon Valley is becoming too small and too pricey for tech workers to flourish and the same is true for their employers.
The West Coast has long benefited from the economic impact technical powerhouses like Microsoft, Google and Amazon have brought. But the cities that house these major headquarters still feel strains in other places and have faced blame for homelessness and unaffordable housing.
For example, while most major U.S. cities vied for Amazon's HQ2, many of the chosen cities' inhabitants in Arlington, Virginia, and New York were less enthused than the local tech companies. The hiring crisis for skilled tech workers is a deep pain for smaller tech firms, but Amazon's presence will create a new tech hub. If Bezos builds it, techies will come.
But the promise of upwards of $2 billion in performance-based direct incentives has cities clamoring to be a national tech hub. In the last year, Google has added more than 10,000 employees to its U.S. workforce with $9 billion in investments, according to Pichai.
Tech workers account for 10% of U.S. jobs and most, 65%, are willing to relocate for a job. But some tech companies, like Microsoft, are choosing to revamp existing campuses.
The "Remond Monster" is adding about 3 million square feet to 72 acres of its existing 500-acre property. Four "villages" will feature 18 new buildings will a projected completion date of 2022. It's unknown if the villages will have also have treehouses.
