US tech group Oracle plans to invest $5 bln in AI-hungry UK

NEW YORK

U.S. tech group Oracle plans to invest $5 billion in the U.K. over the next five years to meet "rapidly growing demand" for cloud services helping drive artificial intelligence.

"The investment will expand Oracle Cloud Infrastructure's footprint in the U.K. and help the U.K. government deliver on its vision for AI innovation and adoption," Oracle said a statement.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has pledged to ease red tape to attract billions of pounds of investment to help make Britain an "AI superpower."

Oracle's founder, Larry Ellison, is a close ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, with whom Starmer is hoping to strike a post-Brexit trade deal.

"By working with global tech leaders like Oracle, we're cementing the UK's position at the forefront of the AI revolution," Britain's technology minister Peter Kyle said in the joint statement.

Britain currently has the third-largest AI industry after the United States and China.

Starmer's administration has estimated that AI could be worth £47 billion ($61 billion) to the UK each year over a decade.

The government had already announced that three tech companies -- Vantage Data Centres, Nscale and Kyndryl -- would commit to spending £14 billion on AI in the UK, leading to the creation of more than 13,000 jobs.

However, there are concerns that sector-wide implementation of AI could result in job losses as the technology replaces tasks carried out by humans.

The U.K. is seeking clarification on the application of copyright law to AI, which it says aims to protect the creative industry despite widespread concern among artists.