Tue, 16 Sep 2025

Tue, 16 Sep 2025 Google-owner reveals £5bn AI investment in UK ahead of Trump visit

Google's President and Chief Investment Officer Ruth Porat tells the BBC there are "profound opportunities in the UK".

* Alphabet (Google's owner) has announced a £5bn ($6.8bn) investment in UK artificial intelligence (AI) over the next two years.
* The money will be used for infrastructure and scientific research, including expanding Google's data centre in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire.
* The investment is expected to create new opportunities for economic growth, social services, and advancing science in the UK.
* Alphabet's President Ruth Porat said there are "profound opportunities" in the UK for AI research and that capturing the upside of the AI boom was not a foregone conclusion.
* Further multi-billion-dollar UK investments from US giants are expected over the next 24 hours.
* The pound has strengthened on expectations of interest rate changes and a flow of US investment.
* Alphabet became the fourth company to be worth more than $3tn in total stock market value, joining Nvidia, Microsoft, and Meta.
* Google's share price has surged in the past month after US courts decided not to order the breakup of the company.
* The new data centre will be air-cooled rather than water-cooled and will use "95% carbon-free energy" supplied by Shell.
* Alphabet is committed to building renewable energy but acknowledges that wind and solar power are intermittent sources of energy.
* The company is also focused on addressing concerns about an AI-induced graduate jobs crisis, with Porat saying that entire new industries are being created and that AI is collaborating with people rather than replacing them.
  >>