‘Google pauses construction of extensive 30-acre campus in Silicon Valley’

Google is said to be pausing construction of its ‘megacampus’ in Silicon Valley due to budget cuts. This was reported by the American news medium CNBC. This campus had to cover more than 30 hectares and had to include space for offices, homes and shops.

The first phase of demolition had already been completed when Google decided to stop construction, writes CNBC. According to the sources the news medium spoke to, there are so far no concrete plans to continue construction. The sources expect that, if construction does continue, the scale of the so-called ‘Downtown West’ campus will be much smaller than planned.

Like many other tech companies, Google is experiencing a sharp decline in revenue. This is partly due to a downturn in digital advertising, from which almost all of the company’s revenue comes. As a result, the company has already announced several rounds of layoffs and wants to reduce the amount of office space.

In a response to CNBC, Google said it is “assessing how best to move forward with Downtown West” and remains “long-term committed” to San Jose, California, the location of the campus. The city’s mayor claims in response that nothing has changed, and that Google is merely reassessing the construction timeline, according to The Verge.

The construction of the campus was approved in 2021. Downtown West would include more than 680,000 square feet of office space, 4,000 residential units, more than 4,000 square feet of retail and “cultural space” and 15 acres of parks. According to San Jose The project is expected to ultimately generate more than $19 billion for the city and create 20,000 jobs within ten years.

This is what the Downtown West campus should look like according to Google. Source: YouTube