New Delhi, Sep 22 (IANS): HCL Technologies Thursday said it has opened a global delivery centre in Redmond, Washington, where its initial investment of $4 million will create over 400 jobs in the Seattle area over the next two years.

"The new centre will support the company's continued global expansion and increased focus on business innovation in software product development, test engineering and business critical platform development," it said in a statement.

HCL has also announced Microsoft as its first official enterprise customer. Microsoft director Brad Weed pledged $200,000 from the workforce investment act fund to HCL to assist with the training of future employees from Seattle area.

The collaborative engineering hub will have a seating capacity of 350 people and will provide both engineering and product development services in the areas of internationalization and mobility.

HCL is working closely with the Washington State Department of Commerce and enterpriseSeattle, the provider of economic development services, to better engage the professionals and businesses from the Seattle area.

Additionally, HCL will work with several local universities to recruit young graduates, including the University of Washington, University of Washington-Bothell Campus, University of Washington-Tacoma, Seattle University, and Seattle Pacific University.

At the Bombay Stock Exchange, the shares of the company were 3.51 percent lower to trade at Rs.391.30.