Microsoft Canada today announced the building of a new state-of-the-art headquarters in Canada. The massive investment in the new head office is part of a series of investments that the company plans to make in the country over the next four years. The facility, set to be situated at 81 Bay Street, Toronto, Canada, is expected to be ready by September of 2020.
The company mentioned that it currently employs more than 2,300 employees across Canada, and “supports an extended ecosystem of more than 14,000 trusted partners who sell, service or deploy Microsoft products”. With further investments, the firm expects to account for more than 60,000 new jobs by the time its new headquarters is ready for business. Microsoft Canada cites better customer service, effective collaboration with partners, and better accessibility to tech start-ups and universities as the benefits of moving to the new facility.
The new building will comprise of four floors, spread over 132,000 square feet. The company says that the investments will help expand its Canadian operations by accommodating more staff, modernizing real estate and growing its research labs that are focused on Artificial Intelligence (AI).
The Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, said in a statement that:
"Our Government"s Innovation and Skills Plan is working. Leading tech companies are setting up offices across Canada, hiring Canadian talent, and investing in Canada"s enormous potential as an innovation and tech hub. Microsoft"s latest investment in Canada – totaling $570 million – will create hundreds of new jobs and benefit several cities, from Vancouver to Toronto to Montreal. I know our highly-skilled, diverse workforce will continue to attract tech investment in record numbers – growing our economy and creating new opportunities for Canadians across the country,"
In addition to the aforementioned plans, the firm also intends to:
- grow staff by more than 500 full-time employees, with an additional 500 co-ops/internships by 2022
- invest $21 M in Azure credits to the Canada"s Supercluster initiative
- invest $10M over 5 years into Cascadia innovation corridor which is formed between Washington and British Columbia to create new economic opportunities
- invest more than $570M in next 3 years in fixed assets in the country, including relocation and expansion of its research and development lab in Montreal, relocation of its Vancouver sales office, renovation and redesign of its Ottawa, Calgary and Montreal sales offices, and the relocation of its Canadian Headquarters
Microsoft’s Investments to modernize its workspaces include the previously announced mammoth overhaul of its Redmond campus that will start sometime this fall. It is interesting to see the company investing heavily in infrastructure.
Via Thurrott.com