Oracle this week announced plans to invest $5 billion over the next five years to meet growing demand for its cloud services in the UK.
The company said the investment will expand Oracle Cloud Infrastructure’s (OCI) footprint in the UK and help the UK Government "deliver on its vision for AI innovation and adoption."
Further details on how the money will be spent haven’t been shared. DCD has reached out for further information.
Update - Richard Smith, EVP and general manager, EMEA Cloud Infrastructure spoke to DCD at the Oracle CloudWorld Tour about the investment announcement, explaining that the company had been following the UK government announcements surrounding its digital plan and taking them "very seriously."
"We are investing in data centers here, both for sovereign and commercial enterprise growth. We also work very closely with Oxford University from a research standpoint, so some of the spending will go there."
Smith added that the company will also continue "building out GPU capacity."
"We will continue to grow the data center locations. It's easier to expand what you have than to go and build a new one, but there is a point where you reach the physical limit of facilities and need another building. I would say, within the next year, there will be additional locations in the UK."
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Siobhan Wilson, senior vice president and country leader for Oracle UK, said: “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.”
Oracle currently has two commercial cloud regions in the UK which were launched in 2018; UK South in London and UK West in Newport, Wales. It has two government cloud regions in the same locations that launched in 2020.
Oracle cloud services are also available within Microsoft Azure (London, Wales) and Google Cloud (London) facilities in the UK.
Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, Peter Kyle, added: "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 $5 billion 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 – driving forward our Plan for Change."