Google has inaugurated its first engineering hub in sub-Saharan Africa, opening a state-of-the-art facility in Ikeja, Lagos that will eventually house 500 engineers working on products and artificial intelligence solutions designed specifically for African markets.

The hub, which opened its doors to its initial cohort of 120 engineers on Monday, represents the largest technology company infrastructure investment in Nigeria's history and a significant endorsement of the country's growing tech talent pool.

What they will build

Engineering teams at the Lagos hub will initially focus on three product areas: offline-first versions of Google products optimised for low-bandwidth environments, AI-powered language tools for Nigerian and West African languages, and payments infrastructure improvements for the African market.