Salesforce is opening an AI centre in London as the US cloud software company bets big on the UK as a global technology hub. 

On Thursday (6 June), the enterprise company said it is opening a new 40,000ft² facility in London’s Blue Fin building.

The new centre will be used to host AI training and upskilling programmes, as well as encourage industry collaboration among tech companies, Salesforce said. 

Salesforce said the AI centre will help create 500,000 AI-related jobs in the UK. 

“By locating Salesforce’s first, flagship AI centre in London, we are sending a clear message to customers and partners on AI: we are deeply committed to working closely together so that you can reap the rewards of this transformative technology, while ensuring it is a force for good,” Salesforce’s Zahra Bahrololoumi said in a statement.

The US software company said the AI centre will be the first of many globally.

It is being set up as part of Salesforce’s five-year $4bn investment in the UK, which the company announced last year.  

As part of the investment, the company’s venture capital arm will be investing $200m (£156.47m) into UK start-ups.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called the investment a “ringing endorsement” of the country’s economy – just weeks after he called the UK a global leader in AI.

“It will strengthen the company’s UK presence, increasing capacity, as well as creating vital jobs, reinforcing our position as one of their largest markets outside of the US,” Sunak said in a statement.

Research and analysis company GlobalData forecasts that the overall AI market will be worth $909bn by 2030, registering a compound annual growth rate (AGR) of 35% between 2022 and 2030.

In the GenAI space, revenues are expected to grow from $1.8bn in 2022 to $33bn in 2027 at a CAGR of 80%.