Google restores ties, investing big in Australia after shut down threat in January

Google mended its ties with Australia after threatening to pull out earlier this year. Back in January, the American tech giant said it would remove its search engine from the country due to its attempt to make the company share royalties with local news publishers.

It appears that the conflict has been resolved, and both Google and Australia have already put their difference behind them. This is because the Mountain View, California-headquartered tech company, just announced it will be making its biggest investment ever in the Land Down Under.

As per CNN Business, Google will be investing AU$1 billion or around $736 million in the country over the next five years. The company revealed it also has plans to join forces with a local government agency on scientific research, which is said to be the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).

The collaboration with CSIRO will also cover certain projects on protecting the Great Barrier Reef and clean energy. In addition, Google will also seek a partnership with an Australian university on quantum computing.

The investment and its plans were personally announced by Google's chief executive officer, Sundar Pichai, earlier this week. Part of the funds invested by the firm will go to its first research center in Australia and the development of the nation's cloud computing arm.

It was noted that Google has been actively operating in the Aussie region for two decades now and currently employs around 2,000 locals. With its new investment and initiative, the company is expecting to help create more new jobs.

Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison lauded Google's move and called it a "$1 billion vote of confidence" in the nation's economic strategy. He further stressed that the tech firm's program would help create over 6,000 job posts and inject more or less AU$6.7 billion or $4.9 billion of value to Australia's economy.

"The decision by Google has major benefits for Australian businesses as we engage with the economic recovery before us," Reuters quoted PM Morrison as saying. "It will bring more to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) jobs to our shores across engineering, computing science, and AI."