In 2004, Google came to Switzerland on a small scale, and then something amazing happened

In 2004, Google opened a two-person office in Limmatquai. Today, Zurich has become one of the technology giant's largest research and development sites in the world. It's time for a review.

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In 2004, Google moved its first development site in Europe directly to the banks of the Limmat River in Zurich. The term “Google” entered Duden this year. Google Maps or YouTube didn't exist yet, smartphones or cloud computing were largely unknown.

The first Googlers in Zurich believe there may have been dozens or even hundreds of employees. But Google has grown explosively, and today the Swiss branch has nearly 5,000 employees from 85 countries. From Google Maps to YouTube, from the search engine to the new artificial intelligence chatbot Gemini, core products are developed together here.

Is the Google party over?

Google Switzerland is particularly proud of one number: over the past 20 years, former Google Switzerland employees have founded 115 companies, creating more than 1,700 jobs. However, cracks have recently begun to appear in this success story: Google cut 12,000 jobs globally last year, including about 500 in Zurich. Suddenly, the Google building was empty. On the occasion of the Zurich branch’s 20th anniversary, the American’s ghost office makes headlines,” NZZ wrote in March.

Of course, that wasn't an issue at Monday's media event. If Google has its way, the wonders of technology will be just a short break. The next big thing is artificial intelligence – and Switzerland should once again take the lead, i.e. continue to grow.

Zurich Google employees called themselves “Zooglers,” and Urs Hölzle, a Swiss Google veteran, recalled that they had to leave the server room doors open to prevent the servers from overheating. The Listal native joined Google in 1999 as its first vice president of engineering, where until 2023 he led the teams that built and operated Google services and Google Cloud infrastructure. The computer science professor joined Google as its eighth employee and convinced Google's then-boss Eric Schmidt to open a European development center in Zurich.

Hölzle recalled that in the first week, people went to the ETH job fair to recruit talents. One year later, the number of employees reached 70.

2006: Google acquires Lucerne geodata company Endoxon. This acquisition is the foundation for many innovations in Google Maps.

At the beginning of 2007, Google Switzerland had about 100 employees, and by the end of 2007 it had more than 300 employees. On average, five new employees start working in Zurich every week. Google quickly found its new headquarters in the spacious Hürlimann area.

The imaginative design of the rooms is legendary: hookah bar, wine cellar, massage room? Yes, it's all there (see slides)

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Google in Zurich

These are the Google offices opened in 2008 in the Hürlimann district of Zurich. Image: Google

What: Google

2016: Google's first European artificial intelligence research team is established in Zurich. “Google Research Europe”, the research and development department dedicated to machine learning, started working on the Hürlimann site. The basics of development are integrated into services such as Google Assistant or Google's AI Gemini, Google Photos or Google Translate. For example, through machine learning, algorithms can translate languages ​​or identify content in photos in real time.

Google will move into several buildings in Europaallee, making them a new Google campus next to the main train station. The old Hürlimann site will be retained, and further expansions at General-Guisan-Quai and Bärengasse are planned in the United States. There are a total of six locations across Zurich.

Google’s new offices are also interesting…

Image: Google Switzerland

Google recruits talent

As both parties emphasize, Swiss Google is a success story, also thanks to its partnership with ETH. But the relationship between the tech giant and the city of Zwingli is not entirely without problems: “Google is poaching Switzerland’s best technical workers,” says SP national councilor and IT entrepreneur Jacqueline Badran He told the New Zealand Free Press on Sunday. “In this way, the company is preventing our best minds from developing their own ideas and bringing them to market. So Google is harming the power of innovation.”

In addition to Google, American technology giants such as Apple, Microsoft, and NVIDIA also have offices in Zurich. They attract talent with their charisma (and corresponding salaries). Badran also criticized the fact that the establishment of such companies leads to increased demand for living space, thereby driving up rental prices and leading to gentrification.

Tom Hanan, Switzerland's first animal hunter, sees it differently: Google is “the best advertisement for the place.” The fact that companies like Google have offices here makes the city attractive. It would be a huge shame for Zurich and Switzerland if these companies were scared away,” he told blick.ch. Instead, it is up to politicians to create the framework conditions for adequate living space.

Google isn’t the only one with beautiful offices:

Inside the inner sanctum: Watson tours giant Microsoft headquarters in Seattle

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Inside the inner sanctum: Watson tours giant Microsoft headquarters in Seattle

For Watson, I spent two days visiting the Microsoft campus near Seattle: 42,220 employees working in 125 buildings, an area roughly the size of 100 football fields.