“As announced by the prime minister, António Costa, in January 2018, Google opened a new service centre for providers in Lisbon in the summer, fully dedicated to third-party providers,” Google said in a short-written response sent to Lusa News Agency.

Lusa also asked the exact date of the centre, its features, total employees and the figure of the investment, but did not obtain an answer.

In January, Costa announced that the US-based multinational was to set up a new service centre and technology hub for Europe, the Middle East and Africa in the municipality of Oeiras in June, initially with 500 for highly qualified jobs.

According to the head of public policy and government relations Google Spain and Portugal, Francisco Ruiz Anton, a total of 535 jobs were forecast, in several areas.

“It may be financial services to support Google that can be provided here,” he said.

The estimate was that “if everything went well,” this innovation hub could start operating at the end of July.

In February, Anton did not give any investment figures but said that “the biggest investment” was related to jobs to be created, in a type of centre “where it is possible to grow” in the career.

Regarding the reasons that led the company to want to settle in Portugal, Anton denied that it was for labour costs.

The company chose Portugal for being “a country that is betting on the technology sector, entrepreneurship and startups,” he said.