Google Announces £5 Billion AI Investment in the UK Ahead of Trump Visit

Fri Oct 17 2025 08:33:15 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, is set to invest £5 billion in artificial intelligence initiatives in the UK, with plans to enhance infrastructure and scientific research, coinciding with President Trump's state visit.

Alphabet has unveiled a significant £5 billion investment in the UK's artificial intelligence sector, targeting enhancements in infrastructure and research as the tech giant prepares for President Trump's arrival. This investment includes the opening of a new data center in Hertfordshire and support for London's DeepMind. Alphabet's President emphasized the importance of the US-UK technology relationship and the potential for economic growth alongside necessary collaborative efforts to mitigate risks in AI deployment.

The world's fourth-biggest company, Google-owner Alphabet, has announced a £5bn ($6.8bn) investment in UK artificial intelligence (AI).

The money will be used for infrastructure and scientific research over the next two years - the first of several massive US investments being unveiled ahead of US President Donald Trump's state visit.

Google's President and Chief Investment Officer Ruth Porat told BBC News in an exclusive interview there were profound opportunities in the UK for its pioneering work in advanced science.

The company will officially open a vast $1bn (£735m) data centre in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, with Chancellor Rachel Reeves on Tuesday.

The investment will expand this site and also include funding for London-based DeepMind, run by British Nobel Prize winner Sir Demis Hassabis, which deploys AI to revolutionise advanced scientific research.

Ms Porat said there was now a US-UK special technology relationship... there's downside risks that we need to work on together to mitigate, but there's also tremendous opportunity in economic growth, in social services, advancing science.

She pointed to the government's AI Opportunities Action Plan as helping the investment, but said there's still work to be done to land that, and that capturing the upside of the AI boom was not a foregone conclusion.

The US administration had pressed the UK to water down its Digital Services Tax on companies, including Google, in talks this year, but it is not expected to feature in this week's announcements.

Further multi-billion-dollar UK investments are expected from US giants over the next 24 hours.

The pound has strengthened, analysts say, partly on expectations of interest rate changes and a flow of US investment.

Yesterday, Google's owner Alphabet became the fourth company to be worth more than $3tn in terms of total stock market value, joining other technology giants 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.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai had succeeded in making the company an AI First business, saying it's that performance which has resulted in that metric, Ms Porat said.

Ms Porat highlighted that the facility would be air-cooled rather than water-cooled, and the heat would be captured and redeployed to heat schools and homes.

In the US, the Trump administration has suggested that the power needs of AI data centres require a return to the use of carbon-intensive energy sources, but Ms Porat reiterated Google's commitment to renewable energy.

She also addressed fears regarding AI leading to a graduate jobs crisis, emphasizing that AI is expected to create new industries and collaborate with people rather than replace them.

Each one of us needs to start using AI so you can understand how it can be an assistance to what you're doing, as opposed to actually fearing it and watching from the sidelines, she concluded.