Salesforce invests $15 billion in San Francisco, the world capital of AI

The technology company Salesforce announced today, on the eve of its major annual Dreamforce event, its intention to invest $15 billion in San Francisco over the next five years.which will reinforce the status of the Californian city as the world capital of AI. The investment will support a new AI incubator center on Salesforce’s San Francisco campus, grow the AI ​​ecosystem by investing in workforce development and training, and help companies transform into agentic companies.

The news was announced just before the company’s annual Dreamforce conference, which will bring together almost 50,000 people in San Francisco from October 14 to 16. Considered the largest AI event in the world, Dreamforce is celebrating its 23rd edition in the city and is expected to generate $130 million in local revenue and 35,000 local jobs in support of the event.

«San Francisco is a city of innovation, talent and vision»emphasizes Marc Benioff, president and CEO of Salesforce. “This $15 billion investment reflects our deep commitment to our hometown: driving AI innovation, creating jobs, and helping businesses and our communities thrive in this incredible new era. By welcoming nearly 50,000 people and millions more online to Dreamforce, we are investing in the future of San Francisco and leading the next great technological transformation, where humans and artificial intelligence will work together to drive productivity, growth and enable meaningful change.”

From CRM startup to AI powerhouse

What started in 1999 as an idea to offer an online customer relationship management (CRM) service to help sales staff follow up on leads has grown into a company with more than 76,000 employees that has redefined enterprise software, from pioneering the cloud to leading the next wave of AI.

Today Salesforce is San Francisco’s largest private employer, occupying 30 floors of the city’s tallest building. The company also has a thriving local customer base that includes some of the city’s most iconic brands such as OpenTable, The Real Real and William-Sonoma, Inc. Salesforce has also played a key role in helping local startups achieve successful results. Acquisitions by Bay Area companies include MuleSoft (2018), Slack (2021), Airkit (2023), Tenyx (2024), and PredictSpring (2024). In 2025 alone, the company has completed the acquisition of local companies such as Bluebirds, Waii and Regrello, and has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Informatica.

As AI transforms the workplace, Salesforce helps its employees, customers, partners and communities navigate this transformation. The company’s new AI Incubator Hub aims to help early-stage startups accelerate their development and drive transformative applications in artificial intelligence.

Salesforce has also created the 4Rs manual to help any company become an agentic companyredesigning the way of working, retraining people, redistributing talent to unleash agility and rebalancing work. The company has added thousands of salespeople in recent months and created entirely new jobs needed for the future of agentic AI, including agentic data specialist, agentic integration specialist, AI architect, Agentforce technical architect, and agentic experience specialist.

The company also offers upskilling opportunities through Trailhead, Salesforce’s free online learning platform. To date, Trailhead has helped more than 5 million people develop their skills and prepare for the future of work with AI, including 3,300 in San Francisco. Salesforce is training its workforce in the skills of the future through its AI-powered talent marketplace, Career Connect.

The company is also a prolific investor in the Bay Area. Salesforce Ventures, a leading multi-stage venture capital fund founded in 2009, has invested in San Francisco’s most innovative AI startups, including Anthropic, Together AI, Writer, Pano and Fal.

A force for good

Salesforce was built on the idea that businesses are the best platform for change with its 1-1-1 model of dedicating 1% of your capital, your products, and your employees’ time to your communities. Today, this philosophy has translated into more than 60,000 nonprofits around the world using Salesforce technology for free or at a deep discount, and 10 million volunteer hours in their communities.

Salesforce has also announced a new donation pledge of $39 million for education and healthcarebringing Salesforce and the Benioffs’ total contribution to the San Francisco Bay Area to more than $1 billion.

The 1-1-1 model has become the Pledge 1% movementwith more than 19,000 companies and more than $3 billion in new philanthropic giving.