After Microsoft and Amazon, Google is also proceeding with the development of infrastructure and a regional cloud service hub in Greece.

An official announcement is scheduled to be made today by Google Cloud International President Adaire Fox-Martin during a meeting with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

When the project is completed, Greece will be one of the few countries in the world outside of North America where the three largest cloud service multinationals will have a local presence with infrastructure.

Taking into account the presence in Greece of extensive cloud infrastructures and other groups, such as Lamda Hellix which was acquired by Digital Realty, it becomes clear that the country nowadays enjoys the technological infrastructure, services and above all the speed and support it needs not only to accelerate its public and private sectors in their digital transformation, but also to support the entire Southeastern European region.

Google will develop a data center infrastructure in Greece in an investment that, although its budget has not been disclosed, is estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of euros.

Speaking to Kathimerini in July, Google’s President for Europe, the Middle East and Africa Business and Operations Matt Brittin explained the group’s targeting of the Greek market: “We continue to stand firmly by Greece and small and medium-sized enterprises and support them as much as possible.” He went on to add that “through our tools, services, investments and educational programs we seek to make people’s lives easier and better and contribute to the country’s path towards sustainable development.”

A few months earlier, during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Brittin had met with Mitsotakis, and they discussed the prospect of increasing Google’s investments in Greece, which is now being implemented, but also the wider utilization tools that the multinational already has in Greece for digital training and entrepreneurship programs, especially in tourism.  Government sources say the new unit will place an emphasis both on the state and on small and medium-sized enterprises.

This article was previously published in ekathimerini.com.