Microsoft says it will add as many as 5,000 new jobs and boost spending for research and development in both consumer and corporate environments.
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said the world's biggest software company intended to raise its research and development spending up to 8% to almost $7 billion in order to 'provide software breakthroughs'.
'We are just at the beginning of what you can do with software,' Gates said at a meeting with analysts. 'We've just scratched the surface of software viability.'
Microsoft said between 3,000 and 3,500 of its new staff would be in the US, with other jobs added around the world. The company currently has more than 50,000 employees.
