Microsoft's £2.5B UK Investment Fuels AI Talent Hunt and Data Center Expansion

Microsoft Corp MSFT has unveiled a new hub in London for its recently established consumer AI division, led by AI scientist and engineer Jordan Hoffmann, who the company recruited from the notable AI startup Inflection AI. 

This move follows Microsoft’s investment in Inflection AI last year and CEO Satya Nadella’s introduction of a consumer AI division three weeks ago. Inflection AI’s founders, including Mustafa Suleyman of Deepmind fame, are leading the division, TechCrunch reports. 

Also Read: Microsoft President Makes Startling Revelations on Arrival of Advanced AI

Hoffmann, a former Deepmind research scientist who transitioned to Inflection AI in 2022, has been recognized by Suleyman as an “exceptional AI scientist and engineer.”

Hoffmann is set to head the London unit, with Suleyman reporting directly to Nadella from the U.S.

Microsoft plans to seek new AI talents to join Hoffmann at its Paddington office, focusing on developing new language models and related infrastructure. 

This initiative is part of Microsoft’s broader £2.5 billion ($3.15 billion) investment in the U.K. over the next three years, promising to expand its data center footprint and train over a million people for the AI economy. 

The investment will expand the data center footprint to include sites in London and Cardiff, potentially extending to northern England, and deliver over 20,000 of the most advanced GPUs to the U.K. by 2026. 

Additionally, the company has committed to a multimillion-dollar initiative to train one million individuals in the skills needed to develop and operate AI.

The U.K. is a leading country in AI R&D investment and hosts Google’s GOOG GOOGL DeepMind, which signals a potential talent competition between major AI players. 

Microsoft stock gained 47% in the last 12 months. Investors can gain exposure to the stock via IShares Global Tech ETF IXN and Vanguard Information Tech ETF VGT.

Price Actions: Microsoft shares traded higher by 0.24% at $426.59 on the last check Monday.

Also Read: Microsoft Decouples Teams from Office Globally in Response to Antitrust Concerns: Report

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

Photo via Shutterstock