Alphabet has committed to spending £5bn on artificial intelligence infrastructure and research across the United Kingdom over the next two years, marking one of the largest technology investments in the country.
The investment programme will support the expansion of a $1bn data centre in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, and provide additional funding for London-based DeepMind, according to BBC News.
Google’s president and chief investment officer, Ruth Porat, told BBC News there were “profound opportunities in the UK” for its “pioneering work in advanced science”. She described the development of what she termed “now a US-UK special technology relationship”.
The announcement comes ahead of US President Donald Trump’s state visit to the UK this week, with further multi-billion-dollar investments from American technology companies expected to follow.
The funding will support DeepMind’s operations under British Nobel Prize winner Sir Demis Hassabis, focusing on using artificial intelligence to advance scientific research capabilities. Chancellor Rachel Reeves will join Google executives for the official opening of the Hertfordshire facility on Tuesday.
Alphabet achieved a significant milestone on Monday by becoming the fourth company to reach a $3 trillion stock market valuation, joining technology giants Nvidia, Microsoft and Apple. The company’s share price has risen substantially following US court decisions not to pursue a breakup of Google’s operations.
Google has addressed environmental concerns surrounding data centre energy consumption by designing the UK facility to use air cooling rather than water cooling systems. The company has also signed an agreement with Shell to provide 95% carbon-free energy for its British investments.
Regarding potential employment impacts from artificial intelligence adoption, Porat acknowledged challenges while highlighting opportunities in emerging sectors.
“It would be naive to assume that there isn’t a downside. If companies just use AI to find efficiencies, we’re not going to see the upside to the UK economy or any economy,” she said, noting that new industries were being created alongside existing roles in healthcare where AI supports rather than replaces professionals.
The investment represents Google’s strategy to establish itself as an “AI First” business, following a period where the company appeared to lag behind rivals such as OpenAI despite having developed foundational research for large language models.
