Google to build engineering hub in Durham and generate 1,000 jobs

Google announced on Thursday, March 18, that it is investing billions in growing its operations in the U.S. Part of the plan is to build an engineering center that will focus on cloud computing, and details about this have been revealed.

The choice of location for the engineering hub

Google said that this new hub is expected to generate 1,000 jobs, and the company chose to build this in Downtown Durham, North Carolina. This resulted in the evaluation of several locations for Google’s permanent home.

As mentioned earlier, this is part of the company’s plan to invest $7 billion in the U.S. Google estimated that its soon-to-rise Cloud hub would eventually hire more workers and grow into one of Google Cloud’s top five engineering centers in the country.

CBS17 News reported that Durham Mayor Steve Schewel and state Gov. Roy Cooper joined in the pre-recorded Google announcement for its Cloud facility. Marian Croak, Google’s vice president of engineering, and Lilyn Hester, southeast public affairs chief, also attended the event.

“We are thrilled that Google is locating a major engineering hub for its Cloud Enterprise team right here in Durham,” Mayor Schewel said. “Our city’s entrepreneurial and inclusive culture, our quality of life and our tech talent make this the perfect match.”

Gov. Cooper also welcomed the tech company to North Carolina and said he knows the company will have a great life and be able to find and hire a talented workforce in the territory. “When I visited Google leadership in their Silicon Valley office in 2018, it was clear to me that our state was perfect for their expansions,” he said.

Why Google picked Durham

There are many states to choose from, but Google handpicked Durham for its new engineering hub. The company stated that it made the decision to benefit from the location’s diverse, world-class talent to support growing customer demand for enterprise products and solutions.

Engineering VP Marian Croak also said they are excited for the Google Cloud in North Carolina as this is home to some of the most talented and brightest engineers in the world. Meanwhile, this project is just one of the company’s plans for its $7 billion investment to expand its business in the United States.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the fund would be distributed for expanding offices and data centers in 19 states. They are expecting to give full-time jobs to at least 10,000 people with the implementation of the expansion plans.