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(Bloomberg) — French protection firm Thales SA plans to rent 12,000 new employees this yr, boosting whole headcount by about 4,000 after pure attrition, to replicate demand pushed greater by Russia’s battle in Ukraine. 

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About 40% of the recruits will work on analysis and growth, in areas that embrace AI, software program engineering, cybersecurity and biometrics, the corporate mentioned in a press release. 

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On the 12,000 hires, 5,500 can be based mostly in France and three,340 in the remainder of Europe, together with the UK. Others can be positioned within the US, Canada, Asia and Australia. 

“We’re centered on protection, aerospace and safety, and these three pillars supply very important progress potential,” Thales human assets head Clement de Villepin advised reporters. “Our markets and prospects are asking us to speed up in these three pillars,” he mentioned. 

Paris-based Thales had an estimated 77,000 workers on the finish of 2022. It added 11,500 new hires final yr. Thales shares are up 12% for the yr up to now and buying and selling at a document excessive. 

Russia’s battle in Ukraine has led many nations, together with France, to pursue sharp will increase in navy and safety spending to interchange or improve tools. 

In January, France introduced it’s planning to allocate 400 billion euros ($433 billion) to protection spending between 2024 and 2030, up from 295 billion within the 2019-2025 interval. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz introduced shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a yr in the past a particular fund value €100 billion to finance the rebuilding of the nation’s navy in coming years.