American technology firm Oracle has announced plans to invest $5 billion over the next five years in UK cloud infrastructure.

The move aims to meet the rapidly growing demand for cloud services in the country and will expand Oracle Cloud Infrastructure's (OCI) footprint in the UK.

Additionally, Oracle said that the investment will enable more organisations in the UK to utilise the company’s AI and cloud computing services including sovereign AI and generative AI capabilities.

The UK government supported Oracle’s decision, stating that the investment will help it accelerate its AI ambitions, provide businesses and public services with cloud infrastructure to drive productivity, and unlock new opportunities for growth.

“My government is making the UK one of the best places in the world to invest in, so we can make working people better off,” wrote prime minister Keir Starmer on LinkedIn. “It’s fantastic that Oracle has announced a multi-billion pound investment in our tech industry today — helping to create jobs and growth across the country.”

Oracle said it is committed to expanding its OCI footprint in the UK to help public and private sector organisations in a range industries migrate their workloads to the cloud, modernise their applications, and innovate with AI.

“The UK Government’s vision is clear: use AI to help power the UK’s future,” said Siobhan Wilson, senior vice president and country leader at Oracle UK. “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.”

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