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AURORA, Colo. -- The tech boom in Colorado is starting to bring some of the biggest companies in the world to the Denver area. On Thursday, both Amazon and Microsoft held grand opening events.
"We really felt like this was a great place to invest," said Tracey Kelley, the director of the Microsoft Tech Center. "The community is ripe for growth and there's a lot of opportunities with customers and clients in the neighborhood that could use innovation to launch."
Microsoft says its new center will help bring Denver area businesses state of the art technology, and allow those companies to expand and add jobs.
Meanwhile, at Amazon's Aurora fulfillment center, 1,000 employees have already been clocking in since September. Thursday's grand opening allowed elected and community officials to tour the one million square foot facility. Amazon will open a second fulfillment center in Thornton later this year.
The Colorado Office of Economic Development says big names like Amazon and Microsoft are good for the state's image when it comes to attracting companies and workers.
"Reputation is really important so knowing that there are successful companies, spinoffs, mergers and acquisitions, that's important," said Laura Blomquist Rodriguez, with the OED.
But Colorado doesn't rely on national companies alone. The state has several home grown technology businesses. And every three days, a new company is born.
"Every 72 hours we have a startup be born in Colorado," says Blomquist Rodriguez.
With so many companies hiring, workers with high level technical skills are in high demand.
"Right now we have 6000 postings for mid to senior level software developers and project managers. We have the second most educated workforce in the nation, and we also have universities that are working to provide talent to these types of companies."