Four major US technology companies have announced plans to invest a combined £6.3 billion in data centre infrastructure in the UK, in what the government is hailing as a vote of confidence in Britain’s tech sector.
The investments by CyrusOne, ServiceNow, CloudHQ and CoreWeave were revealed at the International Investment Summit in London on Monday. Technology secretary Peter Kyle welcomed the announcements, saying they demonstrate that “tech leaders from all over the world are seeing Britain as the best place to invest”.
Kyle stated: “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.”
The largest investment comes from CyrusOne, which plans to expand its presence in the UK with £2.5 billion of investment over the coming years. Eric Schwartz, president and chief executive officer at CyrusOne, said the government’s recent designation of data centres as critical infrastructure “provided CyrusOne with the confidence to continue its expansion in the UK”.
ServiceNow announced it will invest £1.15 billion into its UK business over the next five years, supporting new office space and expanding its data centres. Bill McDermott, ServiceNow chairman and chief executive officer, commented: “ServiceNow’s investment will accelerate the UK’s innovation blueprint, redefining how people live and work.”
CloudHQ is set to develop a £1.9 billion data centre campus in Didcot, Oxfordshire, creating 1,500 construction jobs and 100 permanent positions. Hossein Fateh, CloudHQ’s founder and chief executive officer, said the company is “very excited to deliver a hyper-scale campus in the UK”.
AI infrastructure company CoreWeave will invest an additional £750 million in the UK, building on a £1 billion investment announced earlier this year. Mike Intrator, chief executive officer and co-founder of CoreWeave, cited the UK’s “strong talent pool” and “priority focus on investing in critical infrastructure” as key factors in the decision.
The government says these investments will take total investment in UK data centres to over £25 billion since it took office in July. The new facilities are expected to provide additional computing power and data storage to support the development and deployment of AI technologies.
The announcements come as Prime Minister Keir Starmer hosts global business leaders at the International Investment Summit, aimed at attracting further investment to the UK. Starmer is set to discuss how the country can capitalise on emerging growth sectors including health tech, AI, clean energy, and creative industries.
