Microsoft plans to expand UK AI center by £2.5bn after saying UK is a bad place to invest

Microsoft President Brad Smith says UK is 'closed for business'; after the CMA initially blocked Activision's proposed merger. Photo: Virginia Mayo

At the time, Mr Smith said the decision was «bad for Britain» and that «people's trust in technology in the UK has been seriously damaged».

He told the BBC at the time: “There is a clear message here: the European Union is a more attractive place to start a business than the UK.”

The CMA later gave the green light to the $69 billion deal after it was restructured by Microsoft.

Microsoft's investment in artificial intelligence in the UK includes building a major new data center in West London and installing 20,000 powerful processors in the UK by 2026.

Mr Suleiman, who previously co-founded UK machine learning business DeepMind before the company was acquired by Google in 2014, said: “I am delighted to be making this commitment to the UK on behalf of Microsoft AI.

“Through close collaboration with thought leaders in the UK government, business community and academia, I know the country is committed to the responsible development of AI.”

Mr Suleiman will leave DeepMind in 2022 year before starting his own company. AI business called «Inflection». He was hired in March to lead Microsoft's artificial intelligence efforts.

Mustafa Suleiman was hired in March to lead the Microsoft division. Artificial intelligence efforts Photo: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP

Microsoft's new UK lab will be led by Jordan Hoffmann, another former DeepMind employee, who will join Inflection's Mr Suleiman. He said the new lab would «work closely» with OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, in which Microsoft has invested billions of dollars.

Mr Suleiman's decision to join Microsoft raised eyebrows in the technology sector. His new artificial intelligence business attracted more than $1 billion in venture funding before his abrupt departure.

Information reported that Microsoft paid $30 million for an agreement that Inflection would not sue for poaching. plus another $620. m to license the startup's artificial intelligence tools.