A woman passes the logo from the web search engine provider Google in Berlin, Germany June 9, 2022. REUTERS/Annegret Hilse
BERLIN (Reuters) -Alphabet's Google will invest 5.5 billion euros ($6.41 billion) in Germany in the coming years in a push to expand its infrastructure and data centre capacity in Europe's largest economy, company and government officials said on Tuesday.
The plan includes a new data centre in Dietzenbach, close to Frankfurt, as well as the expansion of the U.S. company's site in the city of Hanau, also in the central German state of Hesse, Google and state officials said at a news conference in Berlin.
Marianne Janik, vice president for Google Cloud Northern Europe, told Reuters that the investment, to be made in the 2026-2029 period, would involve 100 people working in Dietzenbach and Hanau, respectively.
Philipp Justus, Google's head in Germany, said the plan was likely to secure a total of 9,000 indirect jobs in the region.
"The economic multiplier effect of this investment will be considerable," he added.
Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said Google's investment plan was a "truly important signal for Germany as a business location", which follows a $1.2 billion AI partnership between Deutsche Telekom and Nvidia announced last week.
Germany has been trying to lure in investors and help boost its struggling economy, which has been subject to high costs and red tape.
Klingbeil mentioned his government's creation of a huge off-budget infrastructure fund to boost Germany as a business location, but said no state subsidies would be forthcoming for the Google investment.
"The funds have been available for a few weeks now, and we are seeing considerable interest and demand. Our clear goal is to modernize our country and advance its economy," he said.
($1 = 0.8575 euros)
(Reporting by Christian Kraemer, Klaus Lauer and René Wagner; writing by Friederike Heine and Christoph Steitz, editing by Thomas Seythal, Miranda Murray and Alexander Smith)
