Google will reportedly invest 1 billion US dollars for building a data centre just outside of London (United Kingdom), confirmed a U.S. technology giant, in its latest investment in Britain as it meets to grow the demand for internet services in the region. The data centre, located on a 33-acre (13-hectare) site that was bought by Google in 2020, will be located in the town of Waltham Cross, about 15 miles north of central London, the Alphabet-owned (GOOGL.O), opens new tab company said in an official statement.
The British government, which has been pushing for investment by businesses will help to fund new infrastructure, which is particularly in growth industries like artificial intelligence and technology, described Google's investment as a "huge vote of confidence" in the United Kingdom.
In the Google statement, Rishi Sunak the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom said, "Google's $1 billion investment is testament to the fact that the UK is a centre of excellence in technology and has huge potential for growth.:
The investment will follow Google's $1 billion purchase of a central London office building in 2022, close to Covent Garden, and another site in nearby King's Cross, where it is building a new office and where its AI company DeepMind is also based.
It also comes weeks after Microsoft (MSFT.O), opened a new tab and unveiled plans to pump 2.5 billion pounds ($3.2 billion) into Britain over three years, including in growing its data centre capacity, to underpin future AI services.
"This new data centre will help meet growing demand for our AI and cloud services and bring crucial compute capacity to businesses across the UK while creating construction and technical jobs," Alphabet Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat said in the statement.
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Google, which employs over 7,000 people in Britain, also said that waste heat generated from the data centre would be an opportunity for energy conservation that can benefit the local community.
Credits: Reuters
