GOOGLE is strengthening its investments in Singapore - with the launch of its third data centre and an enhanced skills training programme - while its cloud business will work with the government to co-create Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions in a public-private partnership.

The tech giant unveiled these efforts at the Google for Singapore event on Tuesday (Aug 23), which marked its 15th anniversary operating in the city-state, as well as Google Cloud’s fifth year here.

Google first launched in Singapore in 2007 with 24 employees at Collyer Quay. Its Asia-Pacific headquarters here now houses 3,000 staff serving the region.

At Tuesday’s event, Google announced that its third data centre facility in Singapore, the construction of which it announced in 2018, has been completed and is in operation. This brings the company’s long-term investments in Singapore data centres to US$850 million.

The completion of the third data centre, along with Google’s other commitments, reflects “confidence in Singapore’s technology leadership for the region and the world”, said Scott Beaumont, president of Google Asia-Pacific.

Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who attended the event, said that Singapore is well-placed to capitalise on opportunities from South-east Asia’s “untapped but fast-growing digital consumer market” - even amid global economic and geopolitical challenges

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“On the government’s part, we will do everything we can to enhance our value proposition as a hub for the region... We are already a hub for finance and ideas. We will make it even more attractive. We will enhance our role as a hub for trade, and for people and talent flows,” he said.

Besides infrastructure, Google is also enhancing its skills training programme, Skills Ignition SG (SISG). Launched in 2020, the programme has seen over 5,500 people gain certification, with 3 in 4 participants of the July and October 2021 cohort finding jobs within 6 months of graduation.

Google will now extend to 60 Singaporeans an enhanced traineeship programme, with 12 months of full-time training in digital marketing or professional cloud architecture, up from 9 months previously. The programme will involve more mentorship from Google employees and a higher stipend to match rising market rates.

Google will also offer a new certificate in digital marketing and e-commerce under its career certificates initiative. It has expanded its pool of employers willing to consider recruiting SISG graduates from 16 in January to 37 now.

Separately, Google Cloud on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding with the Smart Nation and Digital Government Group (SNDGG) to co-create AI solutions in key sectors like finance, sustainability and healthcare. Other areas of the partnership include deepening the public service’s AI capabilities and supporting the government’s efforts to shape AI governance and ethics in sectors such as finance.

This is the Singapore National AI Office’s first public-private AI partnership with a global tech company.

There is an “urgent need” for talent skilled in AI to develop the technology at scale, said Sherie Ng, country director for Singapore and Malaysia at Google Cloud.