19 January 2024 , 09:13
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Google has announced a whopping £790 million investment in its first UK data centre, which the Government has praised as a "huge vote of confidence in Britain".
The tech giant has begun construction on a 33-acre site in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, with plans to finish by 2025. This comes hot on the heels of Microsoft's announcement less than two months ago that it would invest £2.5 billion to expand UK data centres for artificial intelligence (AI).
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hailed Google's plans as proof that the UK is a technology powerhouse with massive growth potential. He said: "Foreign investment creates jobs and grows all regions of our economy, and investments like this will help to drive growth in the decade ahead."
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, currently at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, said: "From business conducted online to advancements in healthcare, every growing economy relies on data centres. Our country is no different and this major one billion US dollar investment from Google is a huge vote of confidence in Britain as the largest tech economy in Europe."
Google hasn't said how many jobs will be created. The tech giant confirmed the site would need engineers, project managers, technicians, electricians, and catering and security staff.
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Ben Barringer, a technology analyst at Quilter Cheviot, suggested that the number of permanent jobs might not be significant. He said: "Data centres do not require scores of employees to run them, and given Google is a very lean business, it will be looking to make its operation as efficient as possible."
The new centre will support popular digital services like Google Cloud, Workspace, Search, and Maps. It will also play a crucial role in the company's AI innovations and boost the UK's computing capacity. Google already employs over 7,000 people in the UK, with sites in London, Manchester, and now Hertfordshire. Its DeepMind AI research lab is also based in London.
Ruth Porat, Google and parent company Alphabet's president, chief investment officer and chief financial officer, announced: "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 for the local community."
Google puchased the site in October 2020, and its development is aimed towards supporting Google's aim for zero-emission. The considerable heat produced by the data centre might be used in warming the homes and businesses in the surrounding area. Tech specialist Mr Barringer thinks this decision marks "another victory in luring big tech to the UK" for the Government, yet it's only a "drop in the ocean" for Google.
He added: "The cost of this data centre is around a 30th of their annual capital expenditure and with approximately 30 data centres already constructed globally, it isn't exactly going to move the needle for them by adding another. For the future, however, this puts the UK in a good position to seize the advantage in AI."
* An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story. You can report any errors to [email protected]