Google to Invest $1 Billion in United Kingdom Data Centre

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Jan 18, 2024, 13:00 ET

Represents another milestone in Google's ongoing investment in the UK, including offices, infrastructure and partnerships
Google's new data centre will be ready for off-site heat recovery for the local community

HERTFORDSHIRE, UK, Jan. 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Google today announced it has started building a new data centre in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire. The data centre will be located on a 33-acre site that Google purchased in October 2020 and, once complete, will help ensure reliable digital services to Google Cloud customers and Google users in the UK. The new data centre represents an investment of $1 billion dollars in the country.

Google's data centres help power popular digital services—like Google Cloud, Workspace (which includes Gmail, Docs, Sheets and more), Search and Maps—for people and organisations worldwide. Google's continued investment in technical infrastructure, including its data centres, plays a critical role in supporting the company's artificial intelligence (AI) innovations and growing cloud needs in the UK.

"People and organisations worldwide rely on Google's data centres daily for the digital services they use," said Ruth Porat, President & Chief Investment Officer, Chief Financial Officer of Alphabet and Google. "The Waltham Cross data centre represents our latest investment in the UK and the wider digital economy at large. This investment builds upon our Saint Giles and Kings Cross office developments, our multi-year research collaboration agreement with the University of Cambridge, and the Grace Hopper subsea cable that connects the UK with the United States and Spain. This new data centre will help meet growing demand for our AI and cloud services and bring crucial compute capacity to businesses across the UK while creating construction and technical jobs for the local community. Together with the UK government, we are working to make AI more helpful and accessible for people and organisations across the country."

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: "The UK is a fantastic place to invest, and Google's $1billion investment is testament to the fact that the UK is a centre of excellence in technology and has huge potential for growth.

"Foreign investment creates jobs and grows all regions of our economy and investments like this will help to drive growth in the decade ahead. I will continue to back businesses to invest and innovate here in the UK."

Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt said: "From business conducted online to advancements in healthcare, every growing economy relies on data centres.

"Our country is no different and this major $1 billion investment from Google is a huge vote of confidence in Britain as the largest tech economy in Europe, bringing with it good jobs and the infrastructure we need to support the industries of the future."

Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan, said: "By basing their new data centre on our shores, Google are providing British businesses, including our bustling start-ups, with more reliable access to some of the world's leading cloud technology, underpinning their innovation and success.

"That is not to mention the $1 billion investment will also bring forward a new wave of opportunities and skilled jobs.

"The UK is already home to some of the world's leading lights across science and technology, today's announcement further cements our status as a global destination for innovation."

Councillor Lewis Cocking, Leader of Broxbourne Council said: "I am delighted that Google has chosen Broxbourne for its new data centre. This is a sign of Broxbourne's growing importance as a hub for technology and innovation. Through this development and others, this part of the Borough is attracting millions of pounds of investment which will improve the local economy and create thousands of jobs. The Council is committed to working with our partners to make this, and other developments, a great success for everyone involved."

As a pioneer in computing infrastructure, Google's data centres are some of the most efficient in the world.

Google is pursuing net-zero emissions across its operations and value chain by 2030, supported by an ambitious goal to run all of its data centres and campuses on carbon-free energy (CFE), every hour of every day.
In support of this goal, in 2022 Google announced a power purchase agreement with ENGIE for offshore wind energy generated by the Moray West wind farm in Scotland. This agreement adds 100 MW of carbon-free energy to the grid, and puts Google's UK operations on track to operate at or near 90% carbon-free energy in 2025.
Additionally, the new facility will be ready for off-site heat recovery. Capturing data centre heat represents an opportunity for energy conservation and can benefit the local community. The data centre will deploy an air-based cooling solution.

Google has been operating in the UK for over 20 years, and currently employs over 7,000 people in the country. The new data centre will help Google to continue to grow its business in the UK and Europe. According to 2023 independent research, Google in the UK drives over £118 billion in economic activity. [Google's UK Economic Impact Report]

This announcement builds on Google's existing and ongoing UK investments, supporting Brits and the wider economy at large, including:

2022 purchase of Central Saint Giles development
1 million sq ft. development in King's Cross
Grace Hopper subsea cable connecting the UK with the United States and Spain
Google's Digital Garage programme, which has provided free digital skills training to one million Brits since 2015, including a new AI-focussed curriculum.
A London innovation hub - the Accessibility Discovery Centre - developing accessible tech for the whole of the UK.
Google's multi-year research collaboration agreement with the University of Cambridge and a grant for the University's new Centre for Human-Inspired AI to support progress in responsible AI that is inspired by and benefits everyone.

About Google
Google's mission is to organise the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. Through products and platforms like Search, Maps, Gmail, Android, Google Play, Google Cloud, Chrome and YouTube, Google plays a meaningful role in the daily lives of billions of people and has become one of the most widely-known companies in the world. Google is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc.

Editor notes
Data centres account for about 0.45-0.6% of European energy-related greenhouse gas emissions according to the International Energy Agency, but their overall impact on emissions and productivity is significantly positive. The efficiency gains and pollution reductions they enable far outweigh their energy footprint. The new data centre comes as welcome news for Google Cloud customers like Rightmove as it could help to reduce the carbon impact of their digital infrastructure which is an important target for the company's sustainability goals. "Google's commitment to fully decarbonize its operations was an important factor in our decision to migrate services to Google Cloud, as it aligns with our own targets to reduce our carbon emissions. Building a new data centre with sustainability at the forefront demonstrates the effort they're putting into reaching their target and in turn helping us with our net-zero journey," said Andrew Tate, Head of Technology Operations at Rightmove.

Google's Digital Garage is a free digital skills training course which has trained over 1 million people in the UK since 2015. It is a mix of in-person and online sessions designed to give everyone the opportunity to participate in an ever digitising economy. More information is available here, including on the updated AI curriculum.

Google's grant to the University of Cambridge builds on its long-standing partnership, with a multi-year research collaboration agreement and a Google grant for the University's new Centre for Human-Inspired AI to support progress in bold, responsible and collaborative AI that benefits everyone. Our grant is funding students from underrepresented groups to carry out PhDs within CHIA. More information is available here.

SOURCE Google