Google bought 33 acres in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, in October 2020.
Google has invested $1bn (£790m) to build its first UK data centre.
The tech giant said the structure was on a 33-acre site in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, and expected it to be completed by 2025.
Google stressed it was too early to say how many jobs would be created but it would need engineers, project managers, data centre technicians, electricians, catering and security personnel.
The Prime Minister said it showed that the UK had “huge potential for expansion”.
The allocation is the latest investment made by a major U. S. tech company in Britain, after Microsoft announced it would invest £2. 5 billion to expand synthetic intelligence (AI) knowledge centers across the U. K.
image copyrightPA Media
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hailed the investment as proof that the UK has “huge potential” as a tech hub.
The new facility in Hertfordshire would add to Google’s 27 knowledge centers around the world, with offices in 11 countries and 13 in the United States.
He said the site would force popular virtual services, such as Google Cloud, Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Search and Maps.
It would also “play a pivotal role in supporting the company’s AI inventions and provide the UK with much-needed computing power. “
Google said the facility will be built in line with net-zero emissions goals and that it anticipates a significant amount of heat generated through the data center will be used to heat homes and businesses in the region.
‘Growing demand’
Google now employs more than 7,000 people in the UK and has locations in King’s Cross, Central Saint Giles and Victoria in London and Manchester.
Its AI research and development lab DeepMind is also located in London.
Ruth Porat, Google’s president, chief investment officer and chief financial officer, said, “This new data center will meet the growing demand for our AI and cloud services. “
He said this would “bring IT capacity to UK businesses and at the same time create jobs in the structure and technical box for the local community”.
Image source: Reuters
Google said it was too early to say how many jobs the site
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “Foreign investment creates jobs and grows every sector of our economy, and investments like this will drive expansion over the next decade. “
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, who attended the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, added: “From online business to advances in healthcare, each and every developing economy relies on knowledge hubs.
“Our country is no other and this $1 billion primary investment by Google is a huge vote of confidence in Britain as Europe’s largest tech economy. “
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