As it increases its efforts in cloud computing in the United Kingdom, the cloud branch of the massive American e-commerce company Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced plans to invest £8 billion ($10.45 billion) over the next five years to develop and manage data centres in the nation.

The investment coincides with the hype around cloud providers' generative artificial intelligence (AI) capbilities and the growing trend of organisations using AI in their operations.

"We know the U.K. has a very ambitious digital plan, and we've seen a real uptake of cloud computing and AI technology by British businesses," Tanuja Randery, managing director for European, Middle East, and Africa at AWS, said in an interview with CNBC.

Businesses are now testing generative AI, which Randery described as “most transformative technology” they have seen, potentially since the cloud and internet.

To train and execute AI models, AWS and other cloud companies have been making significant investments in infrastructure, including data centres and Nvidia processors. Then, these cloud providers provide AI services to companies.

In the UK, AWS faces competition from Google and Microsoft, and its investment keeps the business focused on growing in Europe. This year, AWS said that it intends to invest 8.8 billion euros in Germany's current cloud infrastructure.

However, this investment also occurs at a time when U.K. authorities are closely examining the competition in the cloud industry, closely examining AWS and Microsoft in particular. The UK cloud market is presently being investigated by the Competition and Markets Authority.

Even though AWS and the CMA are "working very constructively," Randery said that regulators must strike a balance between innovation and regulation.

(Sources: cnbc.com)