Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced plans to invest £8 billion ($10.45 billion) in the United Kingdom over the next five years. This major investment will go towards building data centres in the UK.
AWS, Amazon’s cloud computing division, expects the project to contribute £14 billion to the UK’s gross domestic product (GDP) by 2028 and support over 14,000 jobs at British businesses. The investment also underscores the increased demand for cloud services, especially with the rising use of artificial intelligence, Reuters news report said.
Since 2022, AWS has already invested £3 billion in data centre facilities in London and Manchester.
Tanuja Randery, AWS Managing Director, explained that the company considers various factors such as power, water, and local environmental conditions when deciding on data centre locations. Specific details on the new centre locations were not disclosed for security reasons, but they will cater to demand from London and surrounding areas.
This move is part of AWS’s broader European investment strategy, which includes €15.7 billion in Spain and €7.8 billion in Germany this year. Cloud computing growth, driven by AI, has sparked a resurgence in corporate spending within the $270 billion cloud infrastructure market.
The investment was praised by British Finance Minister Rachel Reeves, who has been working to attract foreign investment ahead of an upcoming investment summit in mid-October. The UK government is also in talks with Amazon about additional investments in other regions.
UK data center market
The UK data center market will receive investments of $10.13 billion by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 2.37 percent during the forecast period, research report from Arizton said.
Major cloud service providers, including AWS, Microsoft, and Google, are significantly expanding their data center presence in the UK to cater to the rising demand for cloud services.
The UK data center market boasts approximately 200 operational facilities, with an additional 40 in development. Key colocation operators such as VIRTUS Data Centres, Equinix, Digital Realty, and Ark Data Centres are driving investments.
