- Google will invest £5 billion into the UK economy over two years
- A new Hertfordshire data center is key to the deal
- Google breaks the $3 trillion barrier
Google has set out plans to invest £5 billion ($6.8 billion) in the UK over the next two years ahead of a proposed UK-US tech trade deal, expected to be finalized this week during Trump’s visit to London.
The focus of Google’s investment will be on AI, infrastructure and scientific research, with the company set to open a £735 million ($1 billion) data center in Hertfordshire to support AI services across Google Cloud, Search, Maps and Workspace.
This forms just one of a growing list of investments being announced by US tech firms ahead of the impending deal, which is expected to tackle costly tariffs.
Google announces UK investment ahead of US-UK deal
Google shared details of its upcoming data center in a blog post, announcing that a projected 8,250 jobs will be supported by it.
The site was opened by UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves, and is set to “help the UK develop its AI economy.”
A partnership with Shell will see the site being supplied with 95% carbon-free energy by the end of 2026, and the site is also set to use air cooling rather than water cooling to reduce its environmental impact. Heat recapture will also direct wasted heat to local homes, businesses and schools.
Google will also use battery storage to feed surplus clean energy back into the grid “at times of need.”
The news comes as Google continues on an upward trajectory. Yesterday, it became the fourth company to break the significant $3 trillion market cap barrier (now valued at $3.043 trillion with a share price of $253.91, up 33% year-to-date).
In its 2025 Environmental Report, Google boasted of a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) score of 1.09 – 84% lower than the global industry average of 1.56. Still, data canter electricity consumption rose 27% in 2024, indicative of the struggles Google and other data center infrastructure providers face.
You might also like
- The best cloud computing providers give you access to powerful chips for the AI era
- Google slashes UK and EU cloud data transfer fees ahead of EU Data Act
- Fancy a change of role? These are the best UK job sites
