July 7, 2016

Amazon still plans to open UK datacenter despite Brexit vote

Despite the Brexit vote, Amazon is set to open a new datacenter and create additional jobs in London and across the UK.

Telecom giant

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is pushing ahead with plans to add a datacenter region in the UK, despite the country voting to leave the European Union.

Speaking at AWS Summit in London, Gavin Jackson, AWS managing director for the UK and Ireland, looked to reassure customers that despite the referendum result, Amazon is still committed to opening a new datacenter the region by next year. He said :

In light of the Brexit vote, I just wanted to reassure all of our customers that we see the UK as a fast innovator, we see the UK as a huge talent pool and as a fast adopter of technology trends and our job at AWS is to help you innovate through technology. So we at AWS will continue to be an inward investor into the UK. And yes, we’ll continue our path to open a UK region at the end of this year or the beginning of next year – our message to everyone in this room is to keep calm and carry on innovating in the UK.

Opening a UK datacenter for local cloud services will mean customer’s data will remaining the UK, something AWS hope will make the company more attractive to companies who have privacy concerns about data being shared between Europe and the United States.

In addition to opening the new datacenter, Amazon has revealed plans to create 1,000 new permanent jobs in the UK, in addition to the 2,500 new roles the company had previously announced.

The new roles will be spread across London, Manchester, Cambridge, Leicestershire and Edinburgh and will take Amazon’s total UK workforce to over 15,000 permanent staff.

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