Oracle has said it will invest $5 billion over the next five years to expand its data centre footprint in the UK to field local demand for cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) services, in line with regulation for sovereign in-country processing of data. The plan is tightly coupled with the UK government’s national AI strategy, the company said. Its investment in UK data-centre computing infrastructure will support public and private sector organisations in the UK; it flagged enterprise sectors including healthcare, financial services, defence, retail, and manufacturing.
In January, the UK government outlined plans to bolster AI industrial development to make the UK “one of the great AI superpowers”. Vantage Data Centres, Kyndryl, and Nscale – to the tune of £14 billion ($17 billion), mostly from Vantage, and 13,250 jobs. Specifically, Vantage said it will invest £12 billion in data centers across the UK, creating 11,500 jobs; Kyndryl said it will create up to 1,000 AI jobs in Liverpool over three years; and Nscale said it will build the largest UK sovereign AI data centre in Loughton, Essex by 2026. It adds to the £25 billion ($30 billion) of AI investments announced at the International Investment Summit.
The work with Oracle further supports the UK’s grand digital-change plans, set out in its AI Opportunities Action Plan. Late last year, Oracle was announced as cloud services provider for the UK government’s so-called Synergy Programme to create a single IT operating model across the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA), the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), and the Home Office. It is part of an efficiency drive to reduce costs, and standardise and simplify the government’s finance, supply chain, and HR data flows and services for around 250,000 civil servants.
The new Oracle investment, slated for its Oracle Cloud Infrastructure’s (OCI) footprint in the UK, will drive usage of its related computing services, it said – grouped as “sovereign AI, multi-cloud capabilities, and generative AI “. Oracle has recently added around 50 AI agents to its so-called ‘fusion cloud applications suite’ to help enterprises “execute frequent, repetitive tasks across finance, supply chain, HR, sales, marketing, and service”. It stated: “Oracle will be able to help more organisations across the UK take advantage of the latest AI innovations such as AI agents.”
Peter Kyle, UK secretary of state for science, innovation and technology, said: “The UK is determined to lead the world in AI innovation, and today’s announcement from Oracle is a testament to our nation’s growing strength in this sector. This investment will accelerate our AI ambitions, providing businesses and public services with cutting-edge cloud infrastructure to drive productivity, enhance security, and unlock new opportunities for growth… We are cementing the UK’s position at the forefront of the AI revolution.”
Siobhan Wilson, senior vice president and country leader for Oracle in the UK, said: “The UK government’s vision is clear: use AI to help power the UK’s future. Today’s announcement cements Oracle’s commitment to supporting this vision. Oracle provides the world’s best cloud infrastructure for AI learning and inferencing. Our cloud investment will help ensure that customers can use AI to achieve new levels of productivity, unlock growth, and benefit from superior performance and security, all with improved cost savings.”
