The largest investment till now will be done by Google in Australia, as earlier this year there was a clash with the government which saw the tech giant threaten to shut down search there.
On Monday, CEO Sundar Pichai made an announcement that Google will be devoting 1 billion Australian dollars which is about $736 million to the country over the next five years.
These funds will be used in parts, it will be used toward launching the company’s first hub in Australia, and then they will also be used in helping develop the nation’s cloud computing sector.
Google further plans to team up with an Australian government agency on scientific research which will also have projects on clean energy and protection of the Great Barrier Reef. Along with all that, they will also be partnering with a local university on quantum computing.
Google has been working in Australia for two decades now and currently, the number of employees working there is around 2000 people locally. Google further mentioned that this new initiative is expected to help create new jobs and spur innovation.
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The move was hailed by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Tuesday, who described it as a “$1 billion vote of confidence” in the country’s economic strategy. Morrison’s government has previously stated that it wants to make Australia “a top digital economy by 2030,” working to improve the country’s artificial intelligence capabilities, among other things.
Morrison said the plan “doesn’t mean we’re trying to be the next Silicon Valley” when he spoke at a Google office in Sydney on Tuesday.
However, he claimed that the company’s programme would result in the creation of over 6,000 jobs and valuable addition to the economy of about 6.7 billion Australian dollars ($4.9 billion).
“Our challenge, as we emerge from this pandemic in a very challenging world, is to secure Australia’s economic recovery,” Morrison added. “That is the challenge we face as we move into 2022, and Australia’s digital strategy is central to securing that recovery.”
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