Google Invests $1 Billion in UK Data Center to Power AI Workloads

Google is investing $1 billion to build a new data center in the U.K. The 33-acre site will be located at in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire and will be used to support the company’s AI and cloud infrastructure.

Google purchased the site in October 2020 but announced only this week that it is building a data center. The facility is set to power AI and cloud services and bring extra compute capacity to U.K. businesses.

The location of the data center is around 12 miles north of central London. Traditionally, U.K. data centers are housed to the West of the outskirts of London, in places like Slough and Hayes. However, with this new site, Google plans to transfer the captured waste heat to the nearby local community, providing cheaper energy.

According to Google’s CFO, Ruth Porat, the Waltham Cross site will “help meet growing demand for our AI and cloud services and bring crucial compute capacity to businesses across the U.K. while creating construction and technical jobs for the local community.”

Google has been operating in the U.K. over two decades and enjoys a multi-year research collaboration agreement with the University of Cambridge.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said investments like Google’s will “help to drive growth in the decade ahead.”

The investment announcement follows reports that Google is to make more layoffs as it continues its shift toward AI integration. But the job cuts are not expected to be as large as the 12,000 in January 2022.