Are You Ready for a New Googleplex? This Time Google Heads to Arizona

This evening, The Business Journal of Phoenix is reporting that Google will annnounce on Wednesday that they plan “major new operations in the Phoenix area.”

Sources tell The Business Journal that search engine titan Google is the company in question and that Valley plans will likely include operations related to online auctions and expanded Internet and technology services… It is unclear, however, where Google will be landing its Valley tech operations. Some sources indicate that it will likely be Tempe but others say the company may also be looking at locations in other cities, including Scottsdale.

A specific number of jobs that Google will bring to Arizona will not be announced tomorrow but according to newspaper sources it will be “substantial.” Update: A Google news release today said they plan to hire “hundreds of people.”

Ok, now let the Google Auction speculation roll into high gear. Might the Phoenix area also be the home of Google’s payment services?

The Arizona office is only the latest in a string. The other day I blogged about Google recruiting for some sort of office/GooglePlex in Michigan and of course, we’re well aware of the project that incldues more space NASA.

Want to comment or discuss? Visit our forum thread, A New Googleplex: This Time in Arizona.

Postscript: Google has just posted a few job openings for their office in Arizona
? Software Engineering (2 types of openings)
? Financial Applications Engineering (2 types of openings)
? Helpdesk (1 type of opening)
? IT (1 type of opening)
? Security (4 types of openings)
? Systems Administration (1 type of opening)
? Internal Systems Production Engineer – Phoenix

Postscript 2: A bit more from the official Google news release:

The new Google office will be primarily focused on engineering, operations and IT support functions and is part of our worldwide effort to build engineering centers in locations where there are great engineers. We plan to hire hundreds of people for the new office in the coming years and have set up temporary offices in Phoenix to begin building out our local team. We are currently considering a variety of options for more permanent facilities, including occupying existing office space or perhaps building our own offices.