Search engine outfit Google has invested £800 million in a new data centre in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, to boost its cloud and AI capabilities across the UK.
The tech giant has bragged that the 33-acre site will create jobs for the locals, who will be thrilled to have a massive power-hungry facility in their backyard.
The new data centre will give businesses nationwide more computing power. They can use Google’s AI tools and cloud services if they can afford it.
Google has also claimed that it cares about the environment and has set a target to run all its data centres and offices on green energy by 2030.
To help with this, Google signed a deal with ENGIE for wind power from Scotland’s Moray West farm, which will start in 2022.
Google said this 100MW deal will add clean energy to the grid and make Google’s UK operations nearly 90 per cent carbon-free by 2025.
The new Hertfordshire centre will recycle some heat for the local community, which is very generous of them.
According to Google, the data centre investment is the latest in a series of moves to show its love for the UK, which is a crucial market for its business and a world leader in AI, tech, and science.
Last year, Google’s parent company, Alphabet, celebrated 25 years of existence with strong cloud sales of $8.4 billion.
CEO Sundar Pichai said AI and generative AI are taking over Google’s tech.
Pichai mentioned some milestones for Search, Maps and Android and said machine learning is now in most products to make them more helpful. He also boasted about some progress in large language models like LaMDA,
