Microsoft Founder Bill Gates Has Arrived in Athens, Greece

Microsoft founder Bill Gates has arrived in Athens, Greece on Friday, according to reports from Greek news network SKAI.

Gates, who is known for his philanthropic and educational endeavors, will be visiting the Greek capital and the islands while on vacation in the country.

The philanthropist was invited to visit Greece by Greek native Albert Bourla, the head of Pfizer, after the two announced that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Pfizer would work together to increase vaccine production and access throughout the world at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

This is not the only connection Gates has with Greece. His company, Microsoft, intends to expand into Greece and produce countless jobs for talented young Greeks.

Microsoft centers in Greece

In April of this year, Greece’s state agency Enterprise Greece gave approval for the fast-tracking of a 100 million euros ($110 million) Microsoft investment project for three data centers in the country.

The data centers will be located at Spata and Koropi in the Attica region and provide technical business support and cloud computing services to Greece. These are also expected to create 300 new jobs over the next ten years.

Data centers are used to store, process, and share large amounts of data to users while cloud computing refers to the provision of computing resources via the Internet (e.g. servers, apps) through the use of central systems located far out of reach of the final user. Automated processes enable systems to reach users in order to provide a variety of services and connection flexibility.

Microsoft has been operating in Greece since 1992 and maintains about 200 data centers in 34 countries, interconnected with more than 165,000 miles of submarine, land, and metropolitan areas of fiber optics. Microsoft Cloud already serves at least one billion customers and 20 million companies worldwide.

“The implementation of this investment is of great importance for the Greek economy as it expands the country’s information and communication technologies sector and capabilities, and confirms that the Greek ICT industry offers unique opportunities for investment in value-added services with a global reach,” Ioannis Smyrlis of Enterprise Greece says.