Amazon has announced plans to invest £40 billion in the UK over the next three years, which would see the construction of four new fulfilment centres and delivery stations nationwide, as well as upgrades and expansions to its existing network of over 100 operations buildings across the country.
New Amazon fulfilment centres will be built in Hull, Northampton and the East Midlands. Amazon says that this will ‘create thousands of new permanent, full-time jobs in the UK, with the vast majority outside of London and the South East’.
It expects 2,000 jobs to be created at both the Hull and Northampton sites, on top of additional positions at new sites in the East Midlands and at delivery stations around the UK.
Alongside the construction of these new fulfilment centres and delivery stations, Amazon plans to open two new buildings at its corporate headquarters in East London, enhance its transportation infrastructure in every region, and provide ‘support for Amazon’s workforce through competitive compensation, benefits and pioneering training programmes’.
Outside of fulfilment, Amazon also plans to use this investment to honour its ‘ongoing commitment to the UK creative industry’, including through ‘the redevelopment of the historic Bray Film Studios in Berkshire, continued investment in multimillion-pound skills and training programmes, and landmark original TV and film productions’.
The £40bn investment also includes part of the £8bn previously announced in September 2024 for building, operating and maintaining data centres in the UK. Amazon says this will ‘help meet the growing needs of organisations of all sizes, support the UK’s ambition to increase AI compute capacity, and help transform the UK’s digital economy’.
This announcement follows the publication of the UK government’s ‘Modern Industrial Strategy 2025’, committing to investing £600m to accelerate development of logistics and industrial sites, as well as establishing a national Supply Chain Centre.
Speaking on the planned investment in the UK, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy commented: “Amazon has been proud to serve our customers in the UK for the past 27 years. Thanks to their support, we’ve grown to be part of over 100 communities nationwide, from developing drone technology in Darlington to producing world-class entertainment at our studios in Bray.
“We now employ over 75,000 people and have become one of the UK’s largest private sector employers and taxpayers. When Amazon invests, it’s not only in London and the South East – we’re bringing innovation and job creation to communities throughout England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, strengthening the UK’s economy and delivering better experiences for customers wherever they live.”
Having met Jassy last week ahead of the announcement, UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “Amazon’s £40bn investment adds another major win to Britain’s basket and is a massive vote of confidence in the UK as the best place to do business. It means thousands of new jobs – real opportunities for people in every corner of the country to build careers, learn new skills and support their families.
“Whether it’s cutting-edge AI or same-day delivery, this deal shows that our Plan for Change is working – bringing in investment, driving growth and putting more money in people’s pockets.”
The UK’s business and trade secretary Jonathan Reynolds is set to visit Amazon’s London headquarters, where he will ‘meet apprentices to talk about the importance of backing British skills’.
Amazon announced in February this year that it would be creating ‘more than 1,000 new apprenticeships in the UK’ in 2025. Recruitment is currently underway across over 40 different programmes, including data science and cyber security, human resources, marketing, engineering, health and safety, and warehouse operations.
Since the launch of the Amazon Apprenticeship programme in 2013, Amazon has offered 7,000 apprenticeships in the UK, and there are currently around 2,000 apprentices enrolled in the programme.
Reynolds echoed the sentiments of the prime minister, adding: “This investment will create highly-skilled jobs and boost living standards across the country, and the £100 billion of investment we’ve secured in the past year shows our Plan for Change is already delivering for working people.”
