OpenAI opens London office
OpenAI has secured its first permanent London office and plans to make it the company’s largest research hub outside the U.S., with the office slated for 2027. The company has also added UK-focused offers such as data residency for local customers and public-sector agreements while pausing a separate UK data-center project. (reuters.com) (uktech.news) (tech.eu)
OpenAI has signed a lease for its first permanent London office, with the site due to open in 2027. (reuters.com) The office is in Regent Quarter near King’s Cross, spans about 88,500 square feet, and has room for 544 staff. OpenAI currently has about 200 employees in London, so the new space would more than double that footprint. (cnbc.com) (tech.eu) OpenAI said in February that London would become its largest research hub outside the United States, and the new office turns that hiring plan into a long-term property commitment. Reuters said the company expects the office to open in 2027. (rte.ie) (reuters.com) The move comes four days after OpenAI paused its separate “Stargate UK” data-center project, which had been pitched as a major British artificial intelligence infrastructure build-out. OpenAI cited high energy costs and regulatory concerns in that decision. (reuters.com) (cnbc.com) That split shows where OpenAI is still spending in Britain: people and products in London, not new computing capacity elsewhere in the country. Reuters reported that OpenAI has added United Kingdom data residency for customers and kept working on public-sector agreements. (reuters.com) (bloomberg.com) King’s Cross has become one of London’s main technology districts, with Google’s British headquarters nearby and a cluster of artificial intelligence and software companies around the station. OpenAI’s choice of that neighborhood places its researchers and policy staff in the center of the city’s existing tech corridor. (tech.eu) (cnbc.com) The office announcement also lands as Britain tries to hold onto its pitch as an artificial intelligence hub under Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government. The paused data-center plan was a setback for that effort, but the London lease gives ministers a fresh investment announcement from one of the sector’s biggest companies. (politico.eu) (reuters.com) For now, OpenAI’s UK strategy looks less like a bet on British server farms and more like a bet on British talent. The next marker is 2027, when the company says the London office will open its doors. (reuters.com)
