Google on Wednesday opened a new $2 billion cloud data centre hub in Poland’s capital Warsaw, the American internet giant’s first data hub in Central and Eastern Europe. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said the new hub will help secure “better service from private and public entities” as well as bolster security as the data will now be stored in Poland, AFP reported. 

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“We hope that the new Google Cloud region will… help in recovery from the pandemic and will contribute to a thriving digital economy in Poland and the neighbouring countries,” a statement from Google Cloud’s country manager Magdalena Dziewguc read. 

The US Embassy charge d’affaires in Warsaw Bix Aliu, said American companies have invested around $60 billion in Poland and that Google “is adding close to $2 billion to that number by expanding cloud services”. 

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Poland’s economy plunged into recession for the first time in three decades last year and is expected to make a recovery this year, with the government focusing on develoing the tech sector. 

Last year, Microsoft announced it will invest a billion dollars in the country to expand operations and create a new regional cloud-computing data hub. 

Google and Microsoft are the leading providers of cloud computing services across the world, an industry worth hundreds of billion of dollars.