Recently, cloud computing company CoreWeave officially launched its first international data center in the UK, marking its expansion into markets outside the United States. Founded in 2017, CoreWeave initially focused on cryptocurrency mining, but with the surge in demand for AI computing, the company decided to shift its GPU infrastructure towards the AI computing sector.
CoreWeave established its European headquarters in London last May and subsequently completed a $1.1 billion funding round, bringing its valuation to $19 billion. As part of its investment in the UK, the company announced a $1.25 billion investment to build two data centers. The first data center is located in Crawley and quietly began operations last October; the second one is situated in the Docklands area of London and started operations in December.
Image Source Note: Image generated by AI, image licensed from service provider Midjourney
The opening of this data center complements the UK government's five-year investment plan. The government aims to enhance its AI computing capabilities and establish geographical "AI Growth Zones" to promote the development of AI infrastructure in the private sector. UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves stated that this investment is a significant vote of confidence in the UK's digital technology sector, which will help drive economic growth and improve efficiency.
Both data centers utilize NVIDIA's latest H200 series graphics processing units (GPUs), specifically designed for AI workloads, further enhancing CoreWeave's competitiveness in the AI computing market. CoreWeave currently operates 28 data centers worldwide and plans to open 10 new centers by 2025, including three announced locations in Norway, Sweden, and Spain.
In the current cloud computing landscape, CoreWeave is not the only player. Several European companies, including France's FlexAI, Finland's DataCrunch, and the Netherlands' Nebius, are also actively participating in this AI boom, striving to capture a share of this rapidly growing market.
