Amazon’s Lab126 is the hardware group responsible for developing the company’s Kindle e-reader and its echo smart speaker. As of right now, Amazon is contracting with existing Labs to process nasal swabs and saliva samples to test its workforce for the novel coronavirus.

Lab126 began in 2004 as a subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc. originally creating the best-selling Kindle family of products. Since then, we have produced groundbreaking devices like fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo and Amazon show. The new roles will be’responsible for defining, implementing, and qualifying equipment and automation to support Amazon’s covid-19 testing initiative,’ the listing says.

Lab126 is based in Silicon Valley, in Sunnyvale, California. The positions are in Hebron, Kentucky, where the company plans to build its biggest testing lab.

The goal is to fly samples from Amazon warehouses around the US to the testing lab for processing using amazon-managed air cargo jets. Lab126’s Sunnyvale office is still involved and hiring microbiologists and other medical researchers.

Amazon plans to spend at least $ 300 million on testing efforts by the end of June. The company is one of the few large technology firms to remain undeterred by lockdowns and shelter-in-place orders.

Media reports have pegged the number of Amazon workers who have died from covid-19 at eight, as of last week. Critics and warehouse workers have accused Amazon of failing to properly communicate infections.

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