Microsoft announced plans for a massive new investment in a new Canadian headquarters in downtown Toronto. The first of two buildings is located at 81 Bay Street in the CIBC Square complex near the city's waterfront and is currently under construction per Construction Links.
"Increasingly, Canada is being recognized as a global leader in technology and the investments we are making today and into the future wil help ensure Canada continues to be a hotbed of innovation."
Microsoft Canada President | Kevin Peesker
Microsoft will occupy 132,000 square feet over four floors of the first CIBC Square tower which will be a 49 story building that is expected to be completed in 2020. The company has 2,300 employees in Canada and will be hiring another 500 in addition to 500 internships and co-op placements by 2022.
All together, the company plans to invest more than $570 million in Canada over the next three years. Their plans are, in addition to the new headquarters, to expand Microsoft's artificial intelligence lab in Montreal and investments in the company's sales offices in Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa and Vancouver.
According to Geek Wire, Toronto has become very popular on the global tech stage recently. Google's sister company, Sidwalk Labs, is developing a plan to create an innovation district on the Toronto waterfront as a place for technologists who believe they can improve urban planning. Google plans to relocate its Canadian headquarters to Toronto as part of that initiative. Also, Amazon is considering Toronto for its second headquarters. Outside of the U.S., it's the only city to land on Amazon's short list of 20 finalists for HQ2 which will be a $5 billion project that promises to bring 50,000 jobs to the winning location.
Toronto has a deep talent pool that makes it very desirable to tech companies. According to a July report from real estate services company CBRE, Toronto ranked No. 4 for tech talent out of 50 cities in the U.S. and Canada. There are over 240,000 workers that comprise the Toronto tech talent pool, a 51 percent increase since 2012. Tech workers educated in Toronto tend to stay there after graduating.
"By relocating our headquarters to downtown Toronto, we will be able to better serve our customers and attract top talent to continue to drive innovation and growth for our Canadian customers and our large partner ecosystem."
Microsoft Canada President | Kevin Peesker
Microsoft will move its existing headquarters in Mississauga to the new facility in downtown Toronto and will also relocate its Vancouver sales office and Montreal R&D lab to the new headquarters.
"Microsoft's latest investment in Canada 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."
Canadian Prime Minister | Justin Trudeau