Google’s Aramco Deal Risks Irking Staff Over Oil, Politics - Bloomberg
Google will start selling its cloud-computing services in Saudi Arabia through a deal with oil producer Aramco, risking a backlash from staff who oppose doing business with the fossil fuel industry or regimes accused of human rights abuses.
The partnership gives Alphabet Inc.’s Google regulatory clearance to set up what it calls a “cloud region” in the Kingdom, the companies said on Monday. Employees at Google have called on the company to abstain from work in the oil and gas industry, citing environmental concerns, and work with authoritarian regimes.
Still, Thomas Kurian, chief executive officer of Google’s cloud unit, has pushed to service the energy industry. It’s one of a handful of fields where Google is trying to chase Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. in the cloud-computing market.
“With this agreement, Google Cloud’s innovative technology and solutions will be available to global customers and enterprises in Saudi Arabia to enable them to better serve end consumers,” Kurian said in a statement on Monday. Aramco described the market for cloud services in the country as reaching $30 billion by 2030.
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