Economy

(Reuters) -The United States and its allies are coordinating new sanctions on Russia after Moscow recognised two regions in eastern Ukraine as independent, officials said.European Union member states are also considering sanctions, including Germany, where chancellor Olaf Scholz in response to Moscow’s actions halted the certification of the Russia-led Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.Here are some of the ways sanctions could target Russia: BANKS & FINANCIAL FIRMSSome smaller Russian state-owned banks are already under sanctions: Washington imposed curbs on Bank Rossiya in 2014 for its close ties to Kremlin officials. According to sources, the Biden administration has prepared a sweeping measure to hurt the Russian economy which would cut the “correspondent” banking relationships between targeted Russian banks and U.S. banks that enable international payments.Washington also will wield its most powerful sanctioning tool against certain Russian individuals and companies by placing them on the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list, effectively kicking them out of the U.S. banking system, banning their trade with Americans and freezing their U.S. assets.Sources familiar with the planned measures said VTB Bank, Sberbank, VEB, and Gazprombank are possible targets. It is unclear whether Russian banks would be added to the SDN list, but both types of sanctions could hit Russia hard and make it difficult to transact in U.S. dollars. Russia’s large banks are deeply integrated into the global financial system, meaning sanctions could be felt far beyond its borders. Data from the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) shows that European lenders hold the lion’s share of the nearly $30 billion in foreign banks’ exposure to Russia.According to data from Russia’s central bank, total Russian banking foreign assets and liabilities stood at $200.6 billion and $134.5 billion respectively with the U.S. dollar share amounting to around 53% of both, down from 76-81% two decades ago. Britain threatened last week to block Russian companies from raising capital in London, Europe’s financial centre for such transactions, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying the government would target Russian banks and Russian companies. INDIVIDUALSSanctioning persons via asset freezes and travel bans is a commonly used tool and the United States, the EU and Britain already have such sanctions in place against a number of Russian individuals. The EU on Monday imposed sanctions on five people who were involved in a Russian parliamentary election in annexed Crimea in September 2021.While the United States has used the SDN designation to sanction oligarchs deemed to be “bad actors” in the past, it has become more cautious in recent years after 2018 sanctions on the owner of Rusal saw aluminium prices skyrocket and force Washington to backtrack. A bill unveiled by U.S. Senate Democrats in January aims for sweeping sanctions against top Russian government and military officials, including Putin, and President Joe Biden has said he would be ready to consider personal sanctions on the Russian president.Moscow has said any move to impose sanctions on Putin himself would not harm the Russian president personally but would prove “politically destructive”.Britain – home to many wealthy Russians – has threatened to expose property and company ownership on its soil if Russia invades Ukraine, with Johnson saying there was “an issue with Russian money in the city (of London)”.CURBING CHIPS The White House has told the U.S. chip industry to be ready for new restrictions on exports to Russia if Moscow attacks Ukraine, including potentially blocking Russia’s access to global electronics supplies.Similar measures were deployed during the Cold War, when technology sanctions kept the Soviet Union technologically backward and crimped economic growth.ENERGY CORPORATES & NORD STREAM 2The United States and the EU already have sanctions in place on Russia’s energy and defence sectors, with state-owned gas company Gazprom (MCX:GAZP), its oil arm Gazpromneft and oil producers Lukoil, Rosneft and Surgutneftegaz facing various types of curbs on exports/imports and debt-raising. Sanctions could be widened and deepened, with one possible option being to prevent companies settling in U.S. dollars. Nord Stream 2, a recently completed pipeline from Russia to Germany, was awaiting regulatory approval by EU and German authorities before Berlin put its certification on ice. Europe’s dependence on Russian energy supplies weakens the West’s hand when considering sanctions in this sector. SWITCHING OFF SWIFT One of the harshest measures would be to disconnect the Russian financial system from SWIFT, which handles international financial transfers and is used by more than 11,000 financial institutions in over 200 countries. In 2012, SWIFT disconnected Iranian banks as international sanctions tightened against Tehran over its nuclear programme. Iran lost half its oil export revenues and 30% of foreign trade, the Carnegie Moscow Center think tank said.Among Western countries, the United States and Germany would stand to lose the most from such a move, as their banks are the most frequent SWIFT users with Russian banks, said Maria Shagina at the Carnegie Moscow Center.Calls to cut Russia’s SWIFT access were mooted in 2014 when Moscow annexed Crimea, prompting Moscow to develop an alternative messaging system, SPFS. The number of messages sent via SPFS was about one fifth of Russian internal traffic in 2020, according to the central bank, which aims to increase this to 30% in 2023. However, SPFS has struggled to establish itself in international transactions.SOVEREIGN DEBT Access to Russian bonds has become increasingly restricted and sanctions could be tightened further, with a ban on secondary market trading of both new Eurobond and new Russian rouble bonds known as OFZs floated as an option.In April 2021, Biden barred U.S. investors from buying new Russian rouble bonds over the accusations of election meddling.Sanctions imposed in 2015 made future Russian dollar debt ineligible for many investors and key indexes. Those measures have cut Russia’s external debt by 33% since early 2014 — from $733 billion to $489 billion in the third quarter of 2021. Lower debt improves a country’s balance sheet on the surface, but deprives it of financing sources that could contribute to economic growth and development. More

LONDON (Reuters) -Fast-rising inflation is pushing up the British government’s debt interest bill sharply and limiting finance minister Rishi Sunak’s options to ease a cost-of-living squeeze in a tax and spending announcement next month.Data published on Tuesday showed a smaller-than-usual budget surplus in January, a month when income-tax revenues flood in, and economists said inflation’s continued acceleration would limit the room for manoeuvre that Sunak has for his budget.Excluding state banks, the surplus totalled 2.9 billion pounds ($3.9 billion) last month, below an average forecast of 3.5 billion in a Reuters poll of economists.It was the first time the monthly budget figures did not go into the red since the pandemic struck two years ago.But the surplus was smaller than usual for the start of the year. In January 2020, it was nearly 10 billion pounds.Inflation, which is running at a 30-year high and looks set to top 7% in April, took the government’s interest bill to 6.1 billion pounds in January, up by 4.5 billion over the same month last year, mostly because of inflation-linked bonds.In the first 10 months of the 2021/22 financial year ending on March 31, interest payments jumped by 80% to nearly 60 billion pounds, exceeding Britain’s entire budget deficit in the year before COVID-19 hit.INFLATION STRAIN The inflation leap, caused by surging energy prices and the after-effects of the pandemic on the global economy, is straining British households’ finances too.Sunak has already announced measures to soften the blow from April’s 54% increase in energy tariffs, but he is under pressure to do more in a budget statement expected on March 23, shortly before social security contributions go up.A think tank, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, estimates the payroll tax hike, combined with higher inflation, could drive a 30% rise in destitution in Britain.Tuesday’s data showed Sunak has some wiggle room.Tax revenues were 29 billion pounds above official forecasts in the first 10 months of the 2021/22 financial year while spending, on inflation-linked bonds plus public services and rail subsidies, was 9 billion pounds higher.Accumulated borrowing between April last year and January was about half its level in the same period of 2020/21 when the pandemic crisis was at its most severe.But Sunak pointed to the need to prepare for risks ahead.”Our debt has increased substantially and there are further pressures on the public finances, including from rising inflation,” he said.”Keeping the public finances on a sustainable path is crucial so we can continue helping the British people when needed, without burdening future generations with high debt repayments.”Britain’s fiscal watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility, said “large upside surprises in spending (on debt interest costs) relative to our October forecast will follow in the coming months.”Britain’s stock of public debt stands at 2.32 trillion pounds, and has risen to nearly 95% of gross domestic product, from about 82% immediately before the pandemic struck Europe. Bethany Beckett, an economist with Capital Economics, said the public finances were likely to end the financial year in better shape than the official forecasts that underpin Sunak’s budget, but next year’s deficit looked on course to overshoot by 30 billion pounds.The Bank of England is widely expected to raise interest rates for a third meeting in a row next month as it tries to stop the rise in inflation from becoming entrenched.Michal Stelmach, an economist at KPMG UK, said the early 2022 fiscal performance was probably better than Tuesday’s data suggested because about 20% of taxpayers had taken advantage of a month-long extension for filing their tax returns.($1=0.7359 pounds) More

The vehicle tax measures include reducing import duty this year and next by as much as 40% for completely built EVs priced up to 2 million baht ($61,805), and by 20% for those priced between 2 million and 7 million baht.The government will cut excise tax on imported EVs to 2% from 8%, which is expected to add 7,000 EVs in the first year, Finance minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith told a news conference.Also approved was the slashing of income tax rates sharply from 35% to 17% for skilled foreign professionals in targeted industries or economic zones, under a previously announced plan to draw a million wealthy foreigners, including pensioners. The EV scheme for 2022-2025 was approved last week as part of a zero-emission vehicle policy and a goal of ensuring 30% of Thailand’s total auto production are EVs by 2030.Thailand is a major regional automaker and typically produces about 2 million regular vehicles per year, for firms that include Toyota, Honda and Mitsubishi.Eligible car manufacturers will also receive subsidies of between 70,000 baht and 150,000 baht for each EV and 18,000 baht for electric motorcycles, Arkhom said.”This is to encourage investment and employment. It’s necessary, otherwise we won’t be able to keep pace as car manufacturers and others will overtake us,” Arkhom said.The plan to lure foreigners deemed high value seeks to add 1 trillion baht ($31 billion) to domestic spending, boost investment by 800 billion baht and increase tax revenue by 270 billion baht over a five-year period.($1 = 32.36 baht) More

KUWAIT (Reuters) -Kuwait’s government owes 2.35 billion dinars ($7.78 billion) in late payments to public entities, according to the finance ministry, in a sign of a deepening cash crunch the oil-exporting nation has faced since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.The ministry, which was responding to a parliamentary query, said in a letter dated Feb. 16 and seen by Reuters, that late payments were due to the lack of liquidity in the Treasury’s accounts.”These payments will be successively paid when liquidity is available,” it said. The arrears are equal to nearly 11% of Kuwait’s budget for the fiscal year that starts on April 1.Local newspaper Al Qabas first reported on the letter.While a recovery in oil prices have offered some relief, the Gulf country has been unable to issue international debt since 2017 when a public debt law expired and successive parliaments and cabinets have failed to replace it with a new one.The government has relied since on alternative sources of funding such as asset swaps between its huge sovereign wealth fund and the treasury. It faces a payment of $3.5 billion on March 20 when international bonds issued in 2017 come due. In a Feb. 10 document, the finance ministry said extending the bonds’ maturity was “completely unlikely” as it would lead to a downgrade of Kuwait’s sovereign and bank ratings, raising the state’s funding costs.Kuwait’s sovereign wealth fund said the same document that despite high prices of oil – hydrocarbons often account for nearly 90% of state revenues – Kuwait still needs the debt law. “The easy and available solutions to enhance liquidity have been exhausted,” the Kuwait Investment Authority said, calling for economic reforms and a law regulating withdrawals from the Future Generations Reserve Fund, which is meant to conserve oil wealth for the long term. The late government payments include 1.29 billion dinars for the finance ministry and public accounts, making up 55% of the total. Out of that amount, 862 million dinars are owed to public and independent entities, including those responsible for housing and social security payments.Fitch Ratings downgraded Kuwait last month to ‘AA-‘ from ‘AA’, citing “ongoing political constraints” that hinder the oil producer’s ability to address structural problems.($1 = 0.3021 Kuwaiti dinars) More

The package, proposed by the EU’s executive Commission, includes banning the trade in Russian state bonds in the European market and kicking the break-away regions in eastern Ukraine out of a free trade deal between the EU and Ukraine. It also comprises sanctions on several hundred members of Russia’s state Duma who voted for the recognition of the break-away regions in eastern Ukraine, as well as on companies and banks involved in the financing of separatist activities in the these regions. More

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Investors are reviving one of the most unprofitable wagers of the past two decades and betting that a combination of politics and price pressures would prompt the unthinkable: a hawkish shift at the Bank of Japan, perhaps as soon as the summertime.The modern pioneer of quantitative easing has given no such hint. But rising inflation, an election on the horizon and a falling yen, which is driving up the cost of living, have roused a bond market dulled by years of intervention.Yields have leapt to their highest since the BOJ began its policy of targeting interest rates in 2016, as traders figure that something has got to give, and there is mounting pressure on both sides of the central bank’s targeted 10-year tenor. “It’s a binary outcome so interest in this trade from the macro community, particularly the offshore accounts, has grown since the end of last year,” said David Beale, head of institutional client coverage in Asia at Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn).He said bets were being laid on volatility in rates and on Japan’s yield curve steepening as longer-dated yields go up. Investors see a chance that the central bank lifts its target yield, or shifts it down the curve to the five-year tenor.Price moves have opened the gap between 10-year and 30-year yields to its widest in more than three years this month, while at the shorter end five-year bonds suffered their longest selling streak since 2008. [JP/]The currency is also in focus as investors see it as a pressure point for the BOJ and are positioning for it to slide at first, while using options to wager that things get bumpy later.”Vol is starting to move in dollar/yen for the first time in quite some time,” Beale said, referring to volatility gauges that have ticked steadily higher since September.Equity investors are also preparing their portfolios for the possibility of currency moves.Kartik Ramachandran, managing partner of Corestrat, a London-based private wealth manager, is bullish on Japanese stocks, but has now started looking for firms that benefit from a weaker yen and has one eye on the policy risks.”We think the risks are balanced. Now, if the balance of risk shifts up, driven by the higher commodity prices and a weaker yen, combined with the slow and low wage growth, the BOJ will act,” he said.WIDOWMAKEREmboldened by the abrupt abandonment of yield curve control in Australia, bond traders think the next few months are crucial because inflationary pressure and an upper-house election due by July are possible triggers for a policy shift.Wholesale inflation is running near four-decade highs and heading for consumers. Economists expect headline inflation to leap in April, when last year’s one-off falls in mobile phone bills start rolling out of the reporting period.Rising yields globally also mean that anchored rates in Japan are weighing on the yen, and as that feeds further into energy prices and living costs it is likely to increase pressure on policymakers and politicians to do something about it.”The situation is completely different from the past 20 or 30 years, so that’s why people have started thinking that this time could be different,” said Tohru Sasaki, head of Japan Markets Research at J.P. Morgan in Tokyo.”Weak yen and a higher oil price are going to be very negative for Japan, so that could also be a catalyst for a change in BOJ policy.”Bets on a policy shift or debt crisis in Japan are termed “widowmaker” trades as previous attempts to call a top in the bond market almost half-owned by the BOJ have proven wrong.There is no clear consensus that this time is any different, either, but there is enough turmoil in the market that a showdown seems to be in the offing.YEN SQUEEZEThe yen is perhaps already in the firing line.Trading around 114.70 per dollar, it is already down nearly 5% in five months. Latest data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) shows leveraged funds are the most bearish on the currency since November, while speculators have also scaled up short yen trades.Fidelity portfolio manager Ian Samson said far more pressure on the yen or from inflation would be needed to break the BOJ’s resolve. “Come back when the yen is 15% weaker, and then maybe,” he said. Colin Asher, senior economist Mizuho in London, says investors will pay closer attention to the BOJ’s next policy meeting, pointing to the 2018 precedent when markets tried to test the 10-year bond’s outer bound and the central bank responded with a quick widening of that band. In any case it seems that both the BOJ and the market are strapping in for a prolonged tussle.”We … see an increase in investor bets that dollar/yen volatility will rise or at least remain high,” said Shafali Sachdev, head of FX in Asia at BNP Paribas (OTC:BNPQY) Wealth Management.”This would be consistent with a view of the market repeatedly testing the BOJ’s resolve on the cap, and having them defend it.” More

The EU and UK are preparing a “first barrage” of sanctions against Russia after Vladimir Putin ordered Russian forces into eastern Ukraine and formally recognised two rebel-held regions in the country.The Russian president’s move, which was widely condemned in the west, has raised fears of a conflict in Ukraine and came after leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz failed to secure a diplomatic solution to the crisis.Putin ordered troops to enter eastern Ukraine on Monday night for “peacekeeping operations” after recognising two separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. The action was swiftly condemned in the US and Europe, with Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, describing it as a “clear attack” on Ukraine’s sovereignty.Boris Johnson, UK prime minister, said the “first barrage of UK economic sanctions” would be announced on Tuesday, warning that Putin was bent on a “full-scale invasion of Ukraine”.Explainer: Why has Putin got Donetsk and Luhansk in his sights?Go deeper: Russia’s threats to invade Ukraine are forcing China to strike a balance between President Xi Jinping’s growing support for Putin and Beijing’s self-interest in the region’s stability. Oil majors and commodity traders at risk from new sanctions on Russia.Markets briefing: Global stocks slide and oil jumps as Putin puts Russia on war footingThanks for reading FirstFT Americas. What questions do you have about the crisis in Ukraine? Share them with us at [email protected] — Wai KwenFive more stories in the news1. Crypto pushes into regulated derivatives markets Volumes in cryptocurrency derivatives registered almost $3tn last month, accounting for more than 60 per cent of crypto trading, as companies sought to meet demand from retail traders for supercharged bets on digital assets.The FT View: G20 ministers are right to take a proactive approach to crypto risks.2. Virgin Hyperloop axes half its staff in freight refocus The US company, which is backed by UAE government logistics group DP World and Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, said 111 people were laid off on Friday as it pivots from passenger travel to delivering a cargo version of its experimental high-speed transport system.

Virgin Hyperloop’s transport system propels pods through low-pressure tubes at speeds of up to 670mph

3. Swiss banks struggle to move on from murky past Switzerland’s attempts to shed its reputation as the banking centre for oligarchs, corrupt officials and drug smugglers have been dealt a blow by the leak of documents detailing the accounts of 30,000 Credit Suisse clients. Shares among the country’s banks fell further than most EU lenders yesterday.4. EU targets Myanmar’s lucrative energy sector in latest sanctions The EU has imposed sanctions against almost two dozen Myanmar government and military officials as well as a state-backed oil and gas group, in the first measures targeting the country’s lucrative energy operator in the wake of last year’s coup.5. Mumford & Sons founder’s venue venture raises $50mn Musicians, tech billionaires and international financiers have backed the first external fundraising of the Venue Group Hospitality, a British music business set up by a founding member of the folk rock band and his brother, a former finance director of Soho House North America, for a US expansion. Coronavirus digestThe G20 has pledged $60bn of extra money for developing nations struggling under the financial impact of the pandemic, falling short of expectations.Opinion: The pandemic has been a wake-up call. We now have a choice: carry on as before or find a way to ensure we are better prepared for extreme risks, writes Martin Rees.Boris Johnson has announced the ending of all remaining coronavirus legal restrictions in England. The decision appeared premature, driven by political expediency rather than public health, writes our editorial board.Kate Bingham, former head of the UK’s Vaccine Taskforce, said the regulator’s ability to move nimbly during the pandemic was attracting biotech companies.The day aheadThe pandemic: The ILO Global Forum for a Human-centred Recovery begins, bringing together heads of government and organisations. Speakers include IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva. The aim of the gathering is to propose actions to strengthen the global community’s response to the Covid crisis.Corporate earnings InterContinental Hotels Group reports preliminary full-year results. Economic data The UK releases public sector finances and the CBI industrial trends survey, Germany’s Ifo Institute monthly business confidence index is due and Italy has January inflation figures out. The US has the IHS Markit flash composite PMI, consumer confidence data and a house prices index, which is expected to have risen more than 18 per cent from a year earlier. (FT, WSJ)To give school students the latest insights on climate change, the FT is hosting a free digital event on March 1. Sign up here and look out for our Climate Change for Schools report on March 19 packed with stories, graphics and tips on how young people can make an impact.What else we’re reading How Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption crusade went global Since coming to power in 2012, the Chinese leader has targeted both “tigers and flies”, or high and low-ranking government officials, with a clear purpose: to eliminate corruption and eviscerate political rivals. A decade later, there is no end in sight and the hunt for fugitives overseas has accelerated.Richard Nixon in China — 50 years on: The former US president’s 1972 visit broke a stand-off between the two nations that had frozen ties since the Chinese Communist party victory in 1949 and helped reset the geopolitics of the cold war.

Grace Meng and Jack Ma, two Chinese citizens targeted by the security apparatus of Xi Jinping, centre © FT montage/Getty Images/AP/EPA/EFE/Shutterstock

Brookfield weighs the value of a new pillar in its complex structure The Canada-based investment group, whose eclectic $690bn portfolio includes office towers, gas pipelines and a nuclear services company, is not quite the world’s biggest investment firm — but it may be the most complicated.European bank shares are experiencing a false dawn Look at the share-price charts for Europe’s banks and one fact is unmissable: investors are finally feeling confident about their prospects. But hopes of fatter margins on lending are offset by certain risks, writes Patrick Jenkins.Opinion: Why a post-Brexit race in financial regulation is a bad strategy, writes Helen Thomas.PepsiCo squares up to supply chain emissions challenge The drinks and snacks group recently set out ambitious climate goals, as it seeks to meet targets set out in the 2015 Paris agreement on climate change. Last year, the company said it would cut greenhouse gas emissions throughout its value chain by at least 40 per cent by 2030, compared with a 2015 baseline.Peloton’s plan to conceal rust Last autumn, the home fitness company was confronted with a crisis: the paint was flaking off some of its exercise machines. Instead of returning the bikes to the manufacturer, executives hatched a plan, dubbed “Project Tinman”, to conceal the corrosion and send the machines to customers.Best New York eateries in ‘And Just Like That . . . ’The ‘Sex and the City’ reboot might not have been everyone’s dish of the day — but the cool Manhattan restaurants frequented by Carrie and the crew are in-crowd pleasers without reservation.Getting to know you: new best friends Seema (Sarita Choudhury) and Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) in the SoHo branch of Sant Ambroeus, by the restaurant’s famed ‘plate wall’ © Craig Blankenhorn/HBO Max/Warner Bros More

TEMPE, Ariz. — Early in the pandemic, when shops along Mill Avenue in downtown Tempe closed their doors and students at nearby Arizona State University were asked to go home, the roar of construction continued to fill the air. Now, gleaming in the sunlight and stuffed with amenities, towering glass office buildings have sprouted up all over the Phoenix metropolitan area.Arizonans are about to have new next-door neighbors. And they include some of the technology industry’s biggest names.DoorDash, the food delivery company, moved into a new building on the edge of a Tempe reservoir in the summer of 2020. Robinhood, the financial trading platform, rented out a floor in an office nearby. On a February morning, construction workers were putting the finishing touches on a 17-story Tempe office building expected to add 550 Amazon workers to the 5,000 already in the area.The frenetic activity in the Phoenix suburbs is one of the most visible signs of a nationwide recovery in commercial office real estate fueled by the tech industry, which has enjoyed unchecked growth and soaring profits as the pandemic has forced more people to shop, work and socialize online.Big tech companies like Meta and Google were among the first to allow some employees to work from home permanently, but they have simultaneously been spending billions of dollars expanding their office spaces. Doubling down on offices may seem counterintuitive to the many tech workers who continue to work remotely. In January, 48 percent of people in computer and math fields and 35 percent of those in architecture or engineering said they had worked from home at some point because of the pandemic, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.But companies, real estate analysts and workplace experts said several factors were propelling the trend, including a hiring boom, a race to attract and retain top talent and a sense that offices will play a key role in the future of work. In the last three quarters of 2021, the tech industry leased 76 percent more office space than it did a year earlier, according to the real estate company CBRE.A view of Camelback Mountain and Papago Park in Phoenix from 100 Mill. Adam Riding for The New York Times“I think there are a lot more companies that are saying, ‘You’re coming back to work’ — it’s not ‘if,’ it’s ‘when,’” said Victor Coleman, the chief executive of Hudson Pacific Properties, a real estate investment group. “The reality is that most companies are currently working from home but are wanting and planning to come back to the office.”Debates over whether workers should be required to return to the office can be thorny because some employees say they have been happier and more productive at home. One way companies are trying to lure them back is by splurging on prime office space with great amenities.Big Tech executives say that office expansions are to be expected and that modernized buildings will probably be spaces for people to collaborate rather than stare at screens. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, leased 730,000 square feet in Midtown Manhattan in August 2020, and has added space in Silicon Valley as well as in Austin, Texas; Boston; Chicago; and Bellevue, Wash.“We will continue to grow and expect many people to return to our offices around the world once it’s safe,” said Tracy Clayton, a Meta spokesman.Big Tech executives anticipate more office expansions, another sign that companies are shifting their expectations for employees.Adam Riding for The New York TimesGoogle said early last year that it would spend $7 billion on new and expanded offices and data centers around the country in 2021, including $2.1 billion to buy a Manhattan office building by the Hudson River, and growth in Atlanta; Silicon Valley; Boulder, Colo.; Durham, N.C.; and Pittsburgh. Google also said in January that it would spend $1 billion on a London office building.Offices “remain an important part of supporting our hybrid approach to work in the future,” Google said in a statement.During the pandemic, Microsoft has expanded in Houston; Miami; Atlanta; New York; Arlington, Va.; and Hillsboro, Ore. The company was growing to accommodate the many new employees it has hired over the last two years, said Jared Spataro, the vice president of modern work for Microsoft.“The pandemic, I think, has just changed people’s perception of what’s possible in terms of geographic distribution,” Mr. Spataro said.In April, Apple said it would build a campus near Raleigh, N.C., and has added space in San Diego and Silicon Valley. The company, which has battled with its employees over its plan for a majority of workers to return to offices most days each week, referred to its April news release about expansion but declined to comment further.Salesforce, whose signature tower looms over the San Francisco skyline, is moving forward with four new office towers planned before the pandemic, in Tokyo, Dublin, Chicago and Sydney, Australia. The company said last February that many employees could be fully remote, but shifted its messaging months later, saying that “something is missing” without office life and urging workers to come back in.Salesforce’s thinking about the office has evolved, said Steve Brashear, the company’s senior vice president in charge of real estate. At the start of the pandemic, the feeling was that “being remote sounds so great and so safe,” Mr. Brashear said. Now, “the idea of being isolated as a remote worker has its drawbacks.”The rooftop deck at Grand 2, where DoorDash employees work. Tech companies have tried to coax their workers back to the office by offering amenities.Adam Riding for The New York TimesThe industry’s search for land has been so extensive that it has surged through longtime tech hubs like Silicon Valley and into areas not traditionally known for their tech scenes.In Phoenix, for instance, tech leasing activity grew more than 300 percent from mid-2020 to mid-2021. New leases, subleases and renewals in the area totaled more than one million square feet from April through September last year, up from about 260,000 square feet a year earlier, according to CBRE.Other locations not normally associated with tech also saw growth. In Vancouver, British Columbia, tech leasing activity doubled in growth in mid-2021, to 561,000 square feet from 268,000, as did activity in Charlotte, N.C., to 143,000 square feet from 71,000.Amazon has been one of the most prolific in expansion, announcing in 2020 that it would increase its white-collar work force in half a dozen cities. In Phoenix, its logo is ubiquitous, and it will occupy five floors in the new Tempe office building expected to be finished this year.Holly Sullivan, Amazon’s vice president of economic development, said adding to its regional hubs allowed the company “to tap into wider and more diverse talent pools, provide increased flexibility for current and future employees, and create more jobs and economic opportunity across the country.”For developers, the focus on offices is good for business, and some interpret the growth as an indictment of the fully remote model.The thinking on remote work is “like a pendulum — it swung a little bit too far, and now it’s come back a little bit,” said George Forristall, the Phoenix real estate director at Mortenson Development.The Watermark office building at the edge of Tempe Town Lake, home to WeWork, Robinhood and some Amazon employees.Adam Riding for The New York TimesThe flurry of expansions also highlights how much better tech has fared than other industries during the pandemic. In some cities, remote work and high vacancy rates continue to hurt restaurants and retailers.Office vacancy rates in San Francisco climbed to 22.4 percent at the end of 2021 from 21.5 percent in the third quarter of the year, according to Jones Lang LaSalle, a real estate firm. The city’s economists called tourism and office vacancies “special areas of concern in the city’s economic outlook.” In New York, office vacancy rates declined to 14.6 percent, according to JLL, but areas dependent on office workers to power local businesses, like Midtown Manhattan, are recovering more slowly.Smaller tech companies, given their financial constraints, might have to choose whether to invest in physical spaces or embrace a more flexible strategy. Twitter has continued to add offices in Silicon Valley, and video game developers like Electronic Arts and Epic Games have expanded in places like Canada and North Carolina. But others have cut back.Zynga, a gaming company, offered up its 185,000-square-foot San Francisco headquarters for sublease last summer because it decided that shrinking its physical office and moving would make life easier for employees, said Ken Stuart, vice president of real estate at Zynga. Its new building in San Mateo, Calif., will be less than half the size.“The reality is that people are frustrated by the commute and getting into the city, and also people feel like they can do better work by being hybrid,” Mr. Stuart said.By contrast, the largest tech giants “have so much money that it doesn’t matter,” said Anne Helen Petersen, a co-author of “Out of Office,” a recent book about the remote-work era. Because of their huge budgets, Ms. Petersen suggested, such companies can continue constructing offices without worrying about how much money they stand to lose if the buildings become obsolete.“They’re hedging their bets,” Ms. Petersen said. “If the future’s going to be fully distributed, ‘we’ll be setting up an apparatus for that.’ If the future’s going to rubber-band back to everyone back to the office, the way it was in 2020, ‘we’ll go back to that.’”In Tempe, the two-floor WeWork co-working space at the Watermark, one of the premier office spaces, was buzzing with activity on a recent afternoon. Upstairs, Amazon has rented an entire floor.Below, amid leafy plants and colorful lighting, employees at tech start-ups clacked away on MacBooks and sketched on whiteboards. Many said it had become more crowded in recent months, and more companies were renting the small office spaces within the WeWork.The WeWork co-working space at Tempe’s Watermark office. Tech employees there say more people have been coming in and leasing space in recent months.Adam Riding for The New York TimesSam Jones, a co-founder of a nonfungible token start-up, Honey Haus, said his company had been renting a four-person space within WeWork for $1,850 a month since October.“I am just way less productive at home,” Mr. Jones said. “People are definitely, I think, realizing that physical space just has something special to it.” More