OpenAI announces first permanent London office in UK expansion push

OpenAI has secured a new office space in London, marking the company’s first permanent site in the city amid continued UK expansion.

Located at Regent Square in King’s Cross and expected to open in 2027, the new office space will host more than 500 staff.

According to OpenAI, the new London site will act as a hub for its ongoing expansion plans. The company already employs around 200 people in London, spanning areas such as research, engineering, customer support, marketing, and sales.

Teams currently based in London are contributing to a host of key projects and product lines, including its agentic coding tool, Codex, as well as future model development.

Phoebe Thacker, global head of data research programmes and London site lead at OpenAI, said the company expects London to continue to play an important role in product development and research.

“The UK has an incredible depth of talent and a strong track record in London,” she said. “London is already a key hub for our research and teams, and this new office gives us space to keep building here.”

OpenAI’s UK expansion

The new London-based office will be a central hub for OpenAI’s operations in the UK, which the company plans to ramp up in the coming years.

OpenAI opened its first office in the UK in mid-2023, and last month revealed a new research hub in the city would be its largest outside the United States.

At the time, it said the UK is an appealing market, largely due to the breadth and quality of academic institutions and R&D capabilities.

The AI company is working closely with the UK government as part of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) - signed last year - to support public sector transformation through AI adoption.

Antony Walker, deputy CEO of techUK, said the announcement will have “real benefits for the UK”.

“This investment will further deepen the UK’s pool of AI knowledge, talent, and research and help to keep the UK at the forefront of the development and deployment of AI globally,” he commented.

Continued commitments

While OpenAI highlighted its continued commitment to the UK market, the announcement comes hot on the heels of news that it will pause infrastructure expansion plans across the country.

The company confirmed last week that it will temporarily pause the Stargate UK project due to lingering regulatory and energy cost concerns.

First announced in September last year, the Stargate UK project is a collaboration with Nvidia and Nscale, which aims to significantly expand AI compute capabilities across the country.

The trio detailed plans to deploy an initial batch of 8,000 Nvidia GPUs, with the eventual aim of scaling this to upwards of 30,000.

A spokesperson for OpenAI told ITPro the firm still sees “huge potential” for the company in the UK and will continue to invest in other schemes.

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