OpenAI leases big London office
OpenAI signed an 88,500-square-foot lease in King’s Cross, London, giving the company capacity for about 544 staff as it looks to more than double its UK presence. The move signals expanded hiring in a key international hub even as other parts of the graduate job market soften. (bmmagazine.co.uk)
OpenAI has signed a lease for its first permanent London office, taking 88,500 square feet in King’s Cross for a site that can hold 544 staff. (propertyweek.com) The space is at Regent Quarter, across Jahn Court and the Brassworks Building, and OpenAI said the office is expected to open in 2027. CNBC reported the company announced the move on April 13, 2026. (propertyweek.com) (cnbc.com) OpenAI currently has about 200 employees in London across research, engineering, customer support, policy and sales, so the new site gives it room to more than double that headcount. The company said London is already a key hub for its research and product teams. (tech.eu) (cnbc.com) The company first announced a London office in June 2023, calling it its first international expansion. Last month, it said London would become its largest research hub outside the United States. (openai.com) (bmmagazine.co.uk) King’s Cross has become one of London’s densest artificial intelligence clusters, with Google DeepMind, Meta, Synthesia and Wayve all based nearby. OpenAI’s move puts it in the middle of that hiring market as it competes for researchers and engineers. (cnbc.com) The expansion comes days after OpenAI paused plans for a United Kingdom data center project, citing regulation and energy costs. The company has said it still wants to grow its London teams even as that infrastructure plan is on hold. (cnbc.com) (bmmagazine.co.uk) The hiring signal stands out against a weaker market for new graduates in Britain. High Fliers said graduate recruitment at the country’s top employers fell 5.1% in 2025 after a 14.6% drop in 2024, and is set to fall again in 2026. (highfliers.co.uk) OpenAI’s London push also fits a broader effort to deepen its ties with the United Kingdom government and universities as Britain tries to position itself as an artificial intelligence hub. The new office gives the company a long-term base for that bet. (itpro.com)
