Sir Keir Starmer, right, listens to Eric Schmidt and Dame Emma Walmsley during the International … [+]
The U.K. government said that four American tech companies have agreed to invest a combined £6.3 billion ($8.2 billion) in data centers, a move aimed at strengthening Britain’s position in the global AI race.
The investment pledges came from ServiceNow, CyrusOne, CloudHQ and CoreWeave, the government said Monday during the International Investment Summit. U.K. Technology Secretary Peter Kyle described the agreement as a “vote of confidence in Britain.”
“Tech leaders from all over the world are seeing Britain as the best place to invest with a thriving and stable market for data centers and AI development,” Kyle said in a statement.
“Data centers power our day-to-day lives and boost innovation in growing sectors like AI,” Kyle continued. “This is why only last month, I took steps to class U.K. data centers as Critical National Infrastructure giving the industry the ultimate reassurance the U.K. will always be a safe home for their investment.”
CloudHQ is developing a new £1.9 billion data center campus in Didcot, Oxfordshire that promises to create 1,500 jobs during construction, and 100 jobs after it becomes fully operational.
ServiceNow said it plans to invest £1.15 billion into its U.K. business over the next 5 years to expand its data center operations.
CyrusOne announced plans to expand its investment in the U.K. to £2.5 billion over the coming years. The company said its projects should be operational by the end of 2028, and are expected to create over 1,000 jobs.
CoreWeave confirmed a £750 million investment to fuel AI cloud infrastructure, following its £1 billion commitment earlier this year and the opening of its European headquarters in London.
Just prior to the announcement, Google’s billionaire former CEO, Eric Schmidt, warned Prime Minister Keir Starmer that Britain is at risk of getting left behind in the race to develop data centers.
“We need you to approve the necessary steps to make these data centers in Britain, because your research scientists, your companies, your citizens all need these things,” Schmidt said at the summit.
