Four major US companies have committed a combined £6.3bn to strengthen the UK’s data infrastructure, as announced during the International Investment Summit.
This investment marks a significant development in the country’s push for artificial intelligence (AI) and digital innovation.
The new commitments by CyrusOne, ServiceNow, Cloud HQ, and CoreWeave bring the total investment in UK data centres to over £25bn since the current government came into office. These developments are expected to support the UK’s growing needs for AI technologies, including machine learning. The data infrastructure will serve key sectors such as healthcare, where AI is set to improve various services.
CloudHQ, headquartered in Washington DC, has announced plans to develop a £1.9bn data centre campus in Didcot, Oxfordshire. The project, aimed at meeting the increasing demand for AI and machine learning, will create 1,500 jobs during construction and provide 100 permanent roles once completed.
ServiceNow has confirmed a £1.15bn investment in its UK operations over the next five years. The AI platform company plans to expand its data centres in London and Newport, integrating Nvidia GPUs for local data processing. In addition, ServiceNow will grow its workforce beyond its current 1,000 employees and establish new office space to accommodate this expansion.
CyrusOne, a developer of data centres, has revealed plans to invest £2.5bn into the UK market over the coming years, pending planning approvals. These new developments are expected to be operational by Q4 2028 and are projected to create over 1,000 jobs directly and across the construction and design sectors.
CoreWeave has confirmed a further £750m investment into the UK to meet the growing demand for AI infrastructure. This follows the company’s previous £1bn investment earlier this year and the establishment of its European headquarters in London.
Government support for UK data centres and AI expansion
These investments come at a time when the UK government has strengthened its support for the data sector by designating data centres as Critical National Infrastructure (CNI). This classification ensures greater government backing to protect the sector from potential disruptions. The announcement marked the first CNI designation since the Space and Defence sectors were awarded such a status in 2015.
In addition to this, the UK continues to advance its AI capabilities. Matt Clifford has been appointed to lead the AI Opportunities Action Plan, a strategy aimed at expanding AI adoption across various sectors of the economy.
The International Investment Summit has attracted top business leaders and government officials to discuss how the UK can leverage growth sectors such as AI, clean energy, and healthcare technologies.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer will also take part in a discussion with former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and GSK CEO Dame Emma Walmsley on how AI can drive economic growth, improve productivity, and enhance public services.
ServiceNow, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, has reiterated its long-term commitment to the UK. Along with its expansion plans, the company will introduce new skills programmes to train 240,000 UK learners in AI-related fields.
Last month, Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced plans to invest £8bn in the UK over the next five years, focusing on building, operating, and maintaining data centres across the country. The investment is expected to add an estimated £14bn to the UK’s gross domestic product (GDP) by the end of 2028. AWS stated that this investment will support over 14,000 full-time equivalent jobs annually at local businesses, spanning sectors such as construction, engineering, facility maintenance, telecommunications, and other services related to its data centre supply chain.
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