Amazon Web Services (AWS) has committed to investing £8 billion ($10.47bn) in data centers in the UK.
The investment will span the next five years in building, operating, and maintaining data centers in the UK.
Amazon launched an AWS region in the UK in 2016, and has since expanded the region to have three Availability Zones, two WaveLength Zones, and two Edge Locations in London and Manchester, as well as a Regional Edge Cache in London.
Since 2020, AWS sait it has invested £3bn ($3.93bn) in the UK.
Tanuja Randery, VP and MD, Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) at AWS, said: “The next few years could be among the most pivotal for the UK’s digital and economic future, as organizations of all sizes across the country increasingly embrace technologies like cloud computing and AI to help them accelerate innovation, increase productivity, and compete on the global stage."
AWS customers in the UK include the likes of AstraZeneca, Cancer Research UK, Deliveroo, easyJet, EDF, Genomics England, Just Eat, Monzo, Natural History Museum, NatWest, Sainsbury’s, Swindon Borough Council, The Very Group, UK Biobank, and Zilch. Several government departments have also signed contracts with AWS, including the Home Office, the Department of Work and Pensions, the Competition and Markets Authority, and Defra.
Following the new investment news, UK finance minister Rachel Reeves said: "This £8 billion investment marks the start of the economic revival and shows Britain is a place to do business. I am determined to go further so we can deliver on our mandate to create jobs, unlock investment and make every part of Britain better off.
"The hard work to fix the foundations of our economy has only just begun."
Ahead of the UK election, the winning Labour Party announced that it would ease restrictions surrounding data centers, specifically on greenfield land surrounding London.
In 2023, then shadow science, innovation, and technology secretary Peter Kyle visited the US to meet with Microsoft, Amazon, and Oracle to discuss data center development in the UK. During that meeting, Microsoft reportedly brought up the challenges in securing planning permission in the UK.
In August 2024, the government opened a consultation to update the UK's national planning policy, including looking at data centers.
“The proposed changes... seek to ensure the planning system meets the needs of a modern and changing economy, by making it easier to build laboratories, gigafactories, data centers, and digital infrastructure, and the facilities needed to support the wider supply chain,” the consultation said, and “giving more explicit recognition of the need to support proposals for new or upgraded facilities and infrastructure (including data centers and electricity network grid connections) that are key to the growth of these industries.”
