Microsoft said Tuesday its main development centre for search engine technology was to be based in Norway.
Chief executive Steve Ballmer made the announcement after a meeting with Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.
In the short-term, Microsoft was to hire 50 developers and researchers, Stoltenberg said.
Microsoft currently has some 300 employees in Norway, mainly employed by FastSearch & Transfer that the US-based giant acquired earlier this year.
The Oslo-based company is specialized in technology to retrieve information from documents, databases and software.

The German car market is facing its worse downturn, the nation's auto industry association warned Wednesday as the deepening sense of economic gloom in the country leads to a shakeout in the industry and the prospects of big job cuts.
A comedy starring Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon as a couple trying to avoid their families at Christmas debuted in first place over the weekend at North American box offices, according to preliminary studio estimates issued Sunday.