A £1.5bn annual profit will allow Dyson to hire another 2,000 engineers as part of a push into next-generation battery cells, robotics, machine learning technologies and artificial intelligence. 

Profits at the British appliance maker jumped by £200m despite the global computer chip shortage and factory shutdowns, while sales rose by 5pc to £6bn. 

Dyson said 900 of the new roles jobs will be based in the UK. 

It employs 3,250 engineers and scientists, half of whom work in Britain at its campuses at Malmesbury and Hullavington airfield in Wiltshire and Bristol city centre. 

The hiring spree is part of a £2.75bn initiative that Sir James Dyson’s company embarked on in 2020 to expand its reach beyond domestic appliances. 

It plans to spend £600m of that sum this year. 

The company anticipates ongoing demand for its newest batch of vacuum cleaners and Airwrap hair curlers. 

It has now sold 70m cordless cleaners around the world with the Dyson V15 cordless vacuum with laser technology and on-board dust analysis proving to be a global success, with demand outstripping supply in all countries. 

Some 20m products from its haircare range of dryers, straighteners and curlers have now been sold. 

The range also includes the Supersonic hairdryer and the Corrale straightener. 

Across the Americas, sales in Dyson’s haircare products rose by 57pc, while direct-to-customer retail sales jumped by just over a third in the Asia-Pacific region. 

Sir James said: “All over the world, Dyson’s engineers are hell-bent on creating new technology and delivering it to our millions of customers. 

“We like looking at problems in the ‘wrong’ way and pioneering our own solutions. 

“As a result, we are succeeding and growing. But to continue this exciting journey we need the best and brightest engineers and digital experts to join us.” 

The founder is pushing into new technologies from electric car technology to farming, harnessing the freedom that a private company affords in placing big bets that do not always pay off. 

In 2019 Sir James abandoned a £2.5bn car project after a team of up to 500 staff worked on it for several years, although he has also refused to rule out another attempt in the future. 

His £110m farming operation is testing picking robots and software-assisted crop sprayers to revolutionise food production on its 35,000 acre site Last year he returned to the UK after moving to Singapore for two years, although he is said to split his time between the two countries. 

Included in the hiring flurry will be 300 jobs in Malaysia and the Philippines, which the company believes is an area for growth. 

“The software lab reflects Dyson’s deepening global investments in software,” the company said. 

Sir James attracted controversy in December when some staff were told they should continue coming to the office amid renewed Christmas time restrictions to tackle rising omicron cases of Covid. 

Roland Krueger, chief executive of Dyson, said 2021 was an excellent year for the company. 

“Our results are testament to how our people pulled together to deliver, despite a challenging global situation, with lost production due to the Covid-19 pandemic and a worldwide chip shortage.”