As its quarrel with Beijing fades into the distance, internet search giant Google is expanding investments on the mainland amid new online advertising opportunities and the rapid adoption of its Android mobile software on locally made smartphones.
'Mobile, display [advertising] and search remain vibrant parts of our business in China,' said Daniel Alegre, Google's president of AsiaPacific operations. 'That is why we're hiring and continuing to invest in localising our products in China, as well as supporting the country's entire internet eco-system.'
Alegre did not provide figures, but said: 'We've been able to make large investments in Asia that benefit internet consumers in every country we operate in.'
As an example, he cited Google's engineering teams in Shanghai and Beijing, which focus on creating products designed for both the mainland and international markets.
The company, which reported a 32 per cent year-on-year increase in second-quarter revenue to US$9.03 billion, said it expected to continue making significant capital investments for the rest of the year. Globally its capital expenditure last quarter reached US$917 million, most of which was related to land and building purchases, and information-technology infrastructure investments on data centres, servers computers and networking equipment.
In January, Google said it was hiring more than 6,000 staff worldwide this year to surpass the 4,500 it added last year. It was employing 28,768 full-time employees at the end of June.
It's biggest single investment this year has been the US$12.5 billion acquisition of handset maker Motorola Mobility, which is expected to close by the end of this year or early next year.
