Salesforce plans to invest $15 billion in San Francisco over the next five years to help companies adopt AI. The move underscores the company’s efforts to remain competitive as AI becomes central to enterprise software.
Founded and headquartered in San Francisco since 1999, Salesforce has been adding AI capabilities across its products, including its workplace messaging tool Slack. The company competes with ServiceNow, Oracle, and Microsoft to attract organizations looking to integrate AI into their operations.
Part of the new investment will fund an AI incubator at Salesforce’s San Francisco campus to help companies deploy AI agents, digital assistants that can handle tasks for users.
“This $15 billion investment reflects our deep commitment to our hometown to advance AI innovation, create jobs, and help businesses and communities thrive,” said CEO Marc Benioff.
The announcement comes just ahead of Dreamforce, Salesforce’s annual conference, which will be held in San Francisco from October 14th to 16th. The company expects about 50,000 attendees and estimates the event will generate about $130 million in local revenue.
Salesforce, which employs more than 76,000 people worldwide, also announced last week that it would invest $1 billion in Mexico over the next five years. The company has been operating there since 2006.
Morningstar analyst Dan Romanoff said the new spending is consistent with the company’s long-term goals. “If companies want to remain leaders in important emerging technology areas, they must have a pipeline of talent to innovate and advance the field. This makes sense, as we are already seeing a shortage of AI talent,” he said.
Salesforce stock rose 2.8% on Monday, but is still down about 28% since the beginning of the year.
On the same day, Salesforce also released Agentforce 360, a new AI platform for enterprises.
While many companies are still experimenting with AI-powered automation, Salesforce says it has already deployed multiple versions of its “agent” technology and is using it with thousands of customers and within its own operations.
The company describes the “Agentic Enterprise” as a workplace model where AI supports people rather than replacing them. In this setting, AI agents help teams respond faster, track leads, provide continuous service, and make better decisions. Salesforce says the goal is to increase productivity and customer engagement.
Agentforce 360 combines four main parts of this model.
- Agentforce 360 platform: A framework for building enterprise AI agents. It features a conversational builder, hybrid inference for more accurate results, and voice support.
- Data 360: A unified data layer that provides the necessary context for AI systems. Features like Intelligent Context and Tableau Semantics help turn raw data into meaningful insights.
- Customer 360 app: Tools that document how companies sell, service, and operate are now powered by AI to better understand customer behavior and internal processes.
- slack: A shared space where people and AI agents can collaborate and link information and actions in real time.
According to Salesforce, this setup enables companies to build AI agents that rely on trusted data, work across departments, and integrate directly with existing workflows. Its open ecosystem also allows partners to tailor their technology to different industries.
Salesforce last month expanded its stock buyback plan by $20 billion, even though it expected third-quarter sales to be lower than analysts expected.
(Photo courtesy of Denis Nevozai)
See: Salesforce Agentforce 3 brings visibility to AI agents
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