Amazon takes big gamble on the future of the office

(Image credit: Ken Wolter/Shutterstock)

As Twitter and Slack have said that they will allow their employees to work from home permanently, Amazon is taking a different approach by announcing that it will expand its US Tech Hubs in Dallas, Detroit, Denver, New York, Phoenix and San Diego.

The ecommerce giant plans to create 3,500 new tech and corporate jobs across the US and it will invest $1.4bn in its new offices which will host teams supporting businesses across the company.

Senior vice president of human resources at Amazon, Beth Galetti explained in a press release how the expansion will help these US cities grow their tech workforce, saying:

“People from all walks of life come to Amazon to develop their career – from recent graduates looking for a place to turn their ideas into high-impact products, to veterans accessing new jobs in cloud computing thanks to our upskilling programs. These 3,500 new jobs will be in cities across the country with strong and diverse talent pools. We look forward to helping these communities grow their emerging tech workforce.”

US Tech Hub expansion

Amazon teams in Dallas, Detroit, Denver, New York, Phoenix and San Diego will support various businesses across the company including AWS, Alexa, Amazon Advertising, Amazon Fashion, OpsTech and Amazon Fresh and others.

The ecommerce giant plans to hire new workers for a variety of roles from cloud infrastructure architects and software engineers to data scientists, product managers and user experience designers.

When it comes to expanding its office space, Amazon will add more than 100,000 square feet to its Dallas Tech Hub, 25,000 square feet in Detroit, 20,000 square feet in Denver, 90,000 square feet in Phoenix, 40,000 square feet in San Diego and the company also plans to open a new 630,000 square foot office in Manhattan.

While other businesses are preparing to deal with the 'new normal' indefinitely through remote work, Amazon is taking advantage of the pandemic to expand its office space and hire additional workers at a time when demand for its cloud computing services and ecommerce products has never been higher.

Anthony Spadafora

After working with the TechRadar Pro team for the last several years, Anthony is now the security and networking editor at Tom’s Guide where he covers everything from data breaches and ransomware gangs to the best way to cover your whole home or business with Wi-Fi. When not writing, you can find him tinkering with PCs and game consoles, managing cables and upgrading his smart home.