Microsoft Corp. today announced it will accelerate campus development plans and spend $1 billion over the next three years to expand its Redmond campus by one-third its current size. Roughly half of the development agreement, approved by the city of Redmond in May 2005 to expand Microsoft's Redmond campus over the next 15-20 years, will now be fulfilled by 2009, making the company's Redmond campus one of the largest corporate campuses in the world.

A total of 14 buildings will be added to the campus. Seven buildings will be new and seven have been purchased. Coupled with leased spaces, they will provide the capacity to house approximately 12,000 people based on the current conceptual layout. By June 2009, 3.1 million additional square feet will be
available.

Microsoft executives and city of Redmond Mayor Rosemarie Ives joined Washington state Governor Chris Gregoire and King County Executive Ron Sims at the site of Building 99 on Microsoft's west campus. Building 99 is the first of seven brand-new buildings that will be constructed as part of the expansion.

"Microsoft's decision to continue to invest in its world headquarters in Redmond is a vote of confidence in the city of Redmond and the state of Washington," Ives said. "It also underscores the need for the region and the state to continue to improve the transportation infrastructure in the 520 corridor to ensure a high quality of life for citizens who choose to live and work in east King County."

Expanding the work space at its Redmond headquarters campus has become critical as Microsoft rapidly grows its broad portfolio of products in every one of its major marketplaces: games, entertainment, search, mobile and business applications. "In the software industry, things move quickly. The acceleration of our
campus expansion shows our ability to match that pace as well as our long-term commitment to employees and the region," said Brad Smith, senior vice president at Microsoft. "We are a company with bold goals for innovative and pioneering technology. This plan provides us the space for the current and
future talent who will help us achieve those goals."