Microsoft Investing IDR 49.1 Trillion In UK To Encourage AI Growth

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (photo: @rishisusunak)

JAKARTA - Microsoft's plan to inject funds of 2.5 billion pounds (IDR 49.1 trillion) into the United Kingdom in the next three years, will be the basis for the future growth of artificial intelligence (AI), the British government said. This is the largest single investment of this company in the country until now.

Britain, where the economy is predicted to be sluggish in the coming years, encourage private investment to help fund new infrastructure, especially in developing industries such as AI.

This funding, which was first announced at a peak meeting held by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday, November 27, there will be more than double the traces of Microsoft's data centers in the United Kingdom, providing a very important infrastructure for the new AI model.

"Today's announcement is a turning point for the future of AI infrastructure and development in the UK," Sunak said in a statement on Thursday, November 30 quoted by VOI from Reuters.

Microsoft's plan emerged despite his president's comment, Brad Smith, in April which stated that the decision of the country's antimonopoly authority that was contrary to the US company could threaten the confidence of the technology industry in the United Kingdom.

Since then, the British regulator has given the green light for a changed version of the acquisition worth 69 billion US dollars by Microsoft on Blizzard Activision, making the United Kingdom back on Microsoft.

"Microsoft is committed as a company to ensure that Britain as a country has the world's leading AI infrastructure," Smith said in a statement released when he was the host of the Minister of Finance Jeremy Hunt in the data center that was being built north of London.

As part of the agreement announced on Thursday, Microsoft will bring more than 20,000 the most sophisticated graphics processing units to the United Kingdom, technology that is key for engine learning and AI development.

This investment includes a training plan to help ensure British citizens have the skills needed to build and work with AI.