Google has reportedly halted construction of a sprawling campus in San Jose, California, in an effort to cut costs, according to a report from CNBC. The project was part of Google's "Downtown West" plan and was supposed to include office space, housing units, and public parks on an 80-acre site in the city.
Alphabet, Google's parent company, had previously announced that it would cut approximately 12,000 jobs worldwide due to economic challenges. The tech giant reported lower revenue and profit than expected in the last financial quarter due to the slowdown of its ad business, which has been heavily impacted by the economic crisis.
This economic downturn has affected the company's ability to move forward with its planned construction projects, such as the San Jose campus. Google's decision to pause the project was not communicated to contractors, and there is no information available about when construction might resume.
Google's hiring spree during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic has also been seen as a possible contributor to the current financial difficulties facing the company. Internet companies scrambled to meet demand as people went online for work, school, and entertainment. Analysts suggest that the company overspent during the high-demand period and did not prepare itself for the economic slowdown that followed.
Additionally, Google is facing significant competition with the launch of Microsoft's leading AI chatbot, ChatGPT, which can generate elaborate, human-like content in seconds. Microsoft is also using this AI chatbot to strengthen Bing, which is a longtime rival to Google's search engine.
As Google tries to keep up with Microsoft-backed ChatGPT, the company has launched its own AI chatbot called Bard, which is currently being tested by users in the US and UK.