Amazon to expand UK operations with £8bn investment in new AWS data centers over five years

The announcement is a welcome boost for Britain’s newly elected Labor government, which has put economic growth at the heart of its pledge to “rebuild” the country.

The investment – to build, operate and maintain data centers in the UK – could contribute £14 billion to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and “support” more than 14,000 jobs annually across the chain supply, Amazon said.

It is the company’s latest announcement of a major investment in a European country by its cloud computing division AWS and comes amid debate in the European Union over “cloud” computing services.

“This £8 billion investment marks the start of the economic recovery and shows that the UK is a place to do business,” British Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves said in a statement.

“I am determined to push forward so we can deliver on our mandate to create jobs, unlock investment and improve every part of Britain.

“The hard work of fixing the foundations of our economy has only just begun.”

Amazon said the money would be spent on expanding the operations of its Amazon Web Services (AWS) subsidiary.

The e-commerce giant is trying to capitalize on growing demand for cloud computing capacity, such as server space.

“pivot”

UK government agencies and companies such as easyJet airline, Natwest bank and Sainsbury’s supermarket already use AWS data centres, as do many of the world’s leading companies.

“The next few years could be among the most critical for the UK’s digital and economic future,” said Tanuja Randery, AWS vice president and general manager for Europe, Middle East and Africa.

She added that AWS expansion will help “organizations of all sizes across the country increasingly adopt technologies like cloud computing and AI to help them accelerate innovation, increase productivity and compete on the global stage.”

In recent months, the subsidiary has announced that it will invest tens of billions of euros in Germany, Spain and France.

It comes amid talks in the EU about a “sovereign European cloud” that would allow data to be stored and processed online without going through US tech giants.

Amazon employs 75,000 people in the UK across more than 100 sites. It said in its press release that it has invested £56 billion in the country between 2010 and 2022.

The company announced last month that it had doubled its quarterly profits, boosted by cloud and AI.

AWS revenue rose 19% to $26.3 billion in the second quarter.

Amazon is the world’s number one cloud provider, but it has lagged behind the other two industry giants, Microsoft and Google, in generative AI.

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