Google has unveiled plans to invest an additional £5 billion in the UK over the next two years, in a move it says will help expand the country's artificial intelligence economy, create thousands of jobs and accelerate breakthroughs in science and technology. The announcement coincides with the state visit of US President Donald Trump, during which major technology and energy deals are expected to dominate the agenda. The investment will include significant spending on Google's infrastructure, research and engineering teams, as well as support for Google DeepMind, its London-based AI arm. The company said the expansion would generate 8,250 " new AI-driven jobs " in Britain.
Google has said it will invest 5bn in the UK in the next two years to help meet growing demand for artificial intelligence services, in a boost for the government. The announcement, which comes as Google opens its new datacentre in Waltham Cross in Hertfordshire, is expected to contribute to the creation of thousands of jobs, the US tech company said.
A TechUK report that claimed datacentres in England use less water than previously thought has been accused of containing "methodological flaws" designed to appease tech lobbying in the UK. Foxglove, a non-profit organisation that campaigns for fairness in technology and the protection of local communities, described the study as "dodgy and misleading", arguing that its conclusions are not supported by the evidence.
As the backbone of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, cloud computing and the internet of things (IoT), datacentres are at the centre of modern business infrastructure, but as businesses become more dispersed, the infrastructure surrounding datacentres has become more critical and complex, with network outages no longer isolated events and their cost to businesses never higher, a study from Opengear has found.