(Amazon Photo)

Amazon will double the headcount of its tech hub in Chicago following the lease of additional office space.

The tech giant said it added 70,000 square feet of office space to its Chicago tech hub, with room for 400 employees. That will give Amazon capacity to expand rapidly, with an emphasis on areas such as cloud computing, advertising, and business development.

“We’re excited to create more opportunity in Chicago — a city with terrific talent and a culture of innovation,” Geoff Nyheim, director of  central U.S. AWS sales said in a statement. “We look forward to doubling our teams in the Windy City, contributing to its diverse economy, and hiring local talent to fill exciting roles across Amazon.”

Chicago is one of Amazon’s 18 tech hubs across the U.S. and a finalist in the tech giant’s HQ2 search. Those tech hubs employ roughly 20,000 people combined.

The Windy City is also one of six places where Amazon will hold a “Career Day” this week to help fill tens of thousands of openings across the country. Events will be held tomorrow, Sept. 17, in Seattle, Arlington, Nashville, Boston, Dallas and Chicago.

Including its warehouses throughout the state, Amazon said it has created 11,000 jobs and invested more than $4.4 billion in Illinois since 2010.

Amazon isn’t the only tech giant to expand rapidly in Chicago recently. Last week, Uber said it will invest $200 million annually and hire thousands at a new Uber Freight headquarters in Chicago

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