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 (October 14).
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.
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The investment plans include CloudHQ’s development of a new £1.9 billion data centre in Didcot, which it said would create 1,500 jobs during construction and 100 permanent jobs once fully operational.
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.
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.”
CloudHQ’s website states the 37.5 acre campus in Didcot is “one of the largest fully permitted and powered campuses, offering over 100MW IT load and capacity to expand to 300MW IT load”.
It adds: “The campus is strategically located to the west of the Slough Trading Estate, adjacent to a 400kV National Grid substation, offering significant savings to our customers who are able to connect at transmission level voltage.
“CloudHQ have further invested by building diverse fiber duct infrastructure from the LHR campus, directly to the Slough Trading Estate, enabling a campus style ability to grow at significant scale.”
CloudHQ is a global data centre company which partners with global technology companies “to provide reliable and secure power and operating infrastructure”.
It was founded in 2016 with more than 225 professionals working for the firm.
The company’s global headquarters are based in the United States.