Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) has announced plans to open its first Manchester office, creating 600 jobs.
The office will be in the Hanover Building in the city’s Northern Quarter and the team will work on research and development.
UK manager for Amazon, Doug Gurr, has said the UK is “taking a leading role in our global innovation”.
“These are Silicon Valley jobs in Britain, and further cement our long-term commitment to the UK,” he continued.
“Manchester was at the heart of the industrial revolution and has a fantastic history of innovation. The city offers an incredibly talented workforce and a budding tech scene with some of the most exciting, fast-growing tech companies in the UK situated here.”
The tech giant also plans to expand in Edinburgh and Cambridge, where it will be creating 250 and 180 roles respectively.
In Cambridge, employees are working on the Alexa digital personal assistant system and drone development.
Andy Burnham, who is the mayor of Greater Manchester, said: “Amazon opening their new office in Manchester is another vote of confidence in our city-region as a global digital leader.”
Liam Fox, the British secretary of state for International Trade, also welcomed the news and said: “Amazon’s decision to create hundreds of highly-skilled jobs in Manchester, Edinburgh and Cambridge is an enormous vote of confidence in the UK and a signal to the world that the UK is very much open for business.”
The group has said it has invested £9.3 billion in the UK since 2010.
By the end of the year, it hopes to employ 27,500 staff.
Earlier this month, Amazon announced it would raise the company’s minimum wage to £10.50 an hour in London and £9.50 across the rest of the country.
It later said the rise in minimum wage would result in cutting share bonuses for employees, offsetting at least half of the pay increase.