Microsoft is building a data center in the cloud for one billion euros



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Austria will be one of 64 such data center regions in the future, Microsoft Austria chief Dorothee Ritz announced on Tuesday at a press conference with Chancellor Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) and Economy Minister Margarete Schramböck. (ÖVP). The project is expected to create up to 29,000 jobs. Market researcher IDC has calculated the macroeconomic benefits of such a data center for the next 4 years at more than 2 billion euros, Ritz said.

“This is urgently needed economic growth and it will create 29,000 additional jobs over the next 4 years,” not only at Microsoft itself, but also at local customers and partner companies.

“Our stated goal is to be one of the best countries in Europe in the field of digitization,” Kurz said, “because we know that our economy and our industry can only remain competitive if we are particularly well positioned in this area.”

There will be multiple data centers that will be secured against each other, Ritz explained, but the exact locations could not be disclosed for security reasons.

Microsoft does not receive a special tax incentive for the investment, Schramböck said. Microsoft would have the general subsidies available, such as the 14 percent investment premium for digital investments.

Of course, tax incentives will also be taken into account, Ritz said, “the decision of a data center region includes more than 35 factors, tax incentives are only part of them.” Proximity to metropolitan areas, skilled workers in the region, access to electricity and very good network connections are also important, but not least the needs of customers.

It is by far the largest investment Microsoft has made in Austria, Microsoft president Brad Smith said in a recorded video message. Smith is Microsoft’s Chief Legal Officer and No. 2 behind CEO Satya Nadella. The benefit for Austria is considerable, Smith said.

Consumers, businesses, and the public sector would immediately notice this at a higher rate, but it would also lower costs and increase safety. “We spend more than a billion dollars a year constantly improving our security technology. We have over 3,000 security specialists working for us. “

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