£6 billion investment in UK data centres hailed as ‘vote of confidence’
Four US firms have announced plans to invest in UK-based data centres to support growing demand for artificial intelligence.
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Four US tech firms have announced plans to invest £6.3 billion in data centre infrastructure in the UK – a move the Technology Secretary has called a “vote of confidence” in the country.
The announcement was made during the Government’s International Investment Summit on Monday.
The four firms – CyrusOne, ServiceNow, CloudHQ and CoreWeave – have announced ranging investments including plans to build new data centres and office space, as global demand for computing capabilities to power artificial intelligence continues to grow.
Tech leaders from all over the world are seeing Britain as the best place to invest with a thriving and stable market for data centres and AI development
The investment plans include CloudHQ’s development of a new £1.9 billion data centre in Didcot, Oxfordshire, which it said would create 1,500 jobs during construction and 100 permanent jobs once fully operational.
ServiceNow plans to invest £1.15 billion into its UK business over the next five years, including expanding its data centres and office space.
CyrusOne said it intends to invest £2.5 billion over the coming years, including to build new data centres, while CoreWeave said it would invest a further £750 million in the UK, having announced in May it was spending £1 billion to open its European headquarters in London.
Last month, the Government announced that it was to begin classing data centres as critical national infrastructure (CNI), giving them additional support and protection on the same footing as the water and energy sectors.
And CyrusOne chief executive Eric Schwartz said the designation was a “strong signal” that gave his company the “confidence to continue its expansion in the UK”.
Science and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said: “Tech leaders from all over the world are seeing Britain as the best place to invest with a thriving and stable market for data centres and AI development.
“Data centres power our day-to-day lives and boost innovation in growing sectors like AI.
“This is why only last month, I took steps to class UK data centres as Critical National Infrastructure giving the industry the ultimate reassurance the UK will always be a safe home for their investment.
“Today’s drumbeat of investment is a vote of confidence in Britain and our approach to work with business to deliver sustained growth for all.”
The latest deals follow confirmation last month that investment giant Blackstone has committed £10 billion to create Europe’s biggest AI data centre in Blyth, Northumberland, while earlier in the year Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced plans to spend £8 billion on building, maintaining and operating data centres in the UK over the next five years.