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In a sign of how rapidly Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) continues to expand in the United States, it will open 84,000 square feet of new office space in Portland, Oregon. That is one of 18 tech hubs in the United States, another example of how huge Amazon’s location footprint has expanded.

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The new office signals Amazon’s intent to add new jobs in Portland. The company said jobs immediately would expand by 400. Amazon already has 3,500 employees in Oregon, and it has put $9 billion of investment into the state since 2010. These include both jobs for its e-commerce business and Amazon Web Services employment. AWS is Amazon’s cloud operation and its highest margin division. CEO Jeff Bezos has said its size eventually will rival the e-commerce divisions.

Amazon’s tech hubs employ over 20,000 workers worldwide.

The announcement is a reminder of what Amazon can do for local economies. It recently conducted a search for what it called a “second headquarters.” It picked New York City and an area outside Washington, D.C. Political pressure made it drop the New York location. Amazon will concentration on the one in National Landing, an area owned by Arlington County and the city of Alexandria. Amazon could add 50,000 jobs there.

Amazon has gone from a company largely based in Seattle to one with large facilities around the United States and overseas. Its global employee count is 650,000 and growing.