India-based Infosys, an information technology outsourcing firm, announced Thursday it will hire 2,000 workers over the next four years for a technology hub in North Carolina, the second of four planned hubs in the U.S.

Infosys executives were joined by North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper at a news conference in which they said the hub will be developed in the state’s Research Triangle region. The company expects to hire the first 500 North Carolina workers within two years as part of an overall strategy leading to eventual creation of 10,000 job overall across the four sites. The first was announced for Indiana in May and the other two locations haven’t yet been announced.

Infosys already has more than 1,100 jobs in North Carolina and will begin hiring later this year, company President Ravi Kumar said in the appearance before reporters at North Carolina’s old Capitol Building with Cooper.

Kumar stressed that the jobs created as part of its U.S. expansion would go to American workers. While workers could come to North Carolina from all over the country, Kumar emphasised the company aimed to fill positions in part through recruiting local university graduates and training workers via a customised community college program.

“This was an easy one for us,” Kumar said. “That’s one of the key reasons why we chose North Carolina — there’s such an excellent ecosystem of colleges and schools.”

The jobs will be created in Wake County, which contains Raleigh and parts of the Research Triangle Park, with average salaries of $71,000. A state incentives panel earlier finalised an agreement whereby Infosys could receive more than $22 million in taxpayer-funded grants if they meet job creation, investment and wage thresholds. Another $3 million from the state would help create the community college training programme.

Infosys said it will use the technology hubs to work with its clients on products such as artificial intelligence, big data analysis and shared computing.

Previously, Infosys announced its first hub as part of plans to hire 2,000 new workers by the end of 2021 in the Indianapolis area, home turf of Vice President Mike Pence, a former Indiana governor. President Donald Trump has blasted an American visa program that tech companies have heavily relied upon to temporarily bring in workers from other countries at lower wages. (AP)

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