Microsoft to expand campus

REDMOND, Wash. — Microsoft Corp. plans to spend about $1 billion over the next three years on an expansion plan that will house about 12,000 workers.

The company said the plans, which call for increasing Microsoft’s sprawling suburban campus by about one-third, will accommodate both new and existing workers.

Microsoft, which employed about 30,000 workers in the Seattle area as of Sept. 30, plans to add another 4,000 to 5,000 workers in the current fiscal year ending in June. Worldwide, its work force totaled more than 63,000 as of Sept. 30.

The Redmond software behemoth, which also is expanding overseas, said the plans call for bulking up its hometown campus more rapidly than previously anticipated. Brad Smith, Microsoft’s top lawyer, said that’s evidence of the company’s commitment to its U.S. headquarters and its long-term technology goals.

“In the software industry, things move quickly,” Smith said in a statement.

The expansion will include seven new buildings, seven purchased buildings and some leased space. In total, it will account for about half of the development agreement that the city of Redmond approved in May, which outlined Microsoft’s development plans for the next 15 to 20 years.

Redmond-based Microsoft has been gathering up land and real estate in the area over the past few years.