Amazon to invest £40 billion in the UK over next three years

LONDON — Amazon will invest £40 billion ($54 billion) in the U.K. over the next three years, the e-commerce titan announced Tuesday.

The company said it plans to spend the money on building four new fulfillment centers — large warehouses where it prepares orders for delivery — as well as upgrades and expansions to its existing operations buildings across the country.

The announcement was cheered by the British government, which has been courting investments from major tech players of late as it looks to boost domestic growth and productivity. U.K. monthly gross domestic product shrank 0.3% in April, as U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs and domestic tax rises kicked in.

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement that the investment would create thousands of new jobs — and was a sign the government’s growth plan was working.

Amazon said the new roles as a result of the investment would include 2,000 positions at a previously announced fulfillment center in Hull and an additional 2,000 jobs at another site in Northampton.

The firm also plans to open two new buildings at its corporate headquarters in East London, improve its transportation infrastructure throughout the U.K. and redevelop Bray Film Studios — which it acquired last year — in Berkshire.

Last year, Amazon announced a five-year £8 billion investment to build and operate data centers in the U.K. to boost compute capacity for artificial intelligence.

The tech giant isn’t alone in making big bets on the U.K.

Earlier this month, TikTok announced plans to open a new, 135,000-square-foot office in London’s Barbican area. The country also received praise from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who called it an “incredible place to invest.”

At the same time, tax hikes introduced by Finance Minister Rachel Reeves have led to criticisms from tech entrepreneurs that the U.K. is not a welcoming enough environment for high-growth startups.