Salesforce looks to drive UK growth with new London AI center

Salesforce will establish its first AI center in London, building on previous investments in the region and signaling a commitment to growth in the UK.

This UK AI center will take the form of a physical space designed to “foster collaboration” by uniting industry experts, partners, and customers from Salesforce in an effort to develop the technology. 

The center will also support “critical upskilling opportunities” in the region to aid AI adoption across industries and workforces, the company said. It will be located in the Blue Fin building in central London.

According to the firm, this move represents a “vote of confidence in the UK” and builds on Salesforce’s previous investments in the country. Last year, Salesforce pledged to invest $4 billion into the UK over a period of five years. 

Salesforce Ventures, the venture capital arm of the firm, has also invested over $200 million in various UK companies, including a number of AI-focused businesses. 

The company announced the new center as part of its Salesforce World Tour event in London, at which the firm also announced plans to roll out its Data Cloud service on HyperForce in the UK. 

This will give firms the option to store data within the UK’s in-country regions, helping companies to stay on top of compliance and regulation, while also giving businesses greater options for scale. 

The UK is a focus region for Salesforce 

Speaking in a press conference at this week’s event, Salesforce UK and Ireland CEO Zahra Bahrololoumi told ITPro that the UK is a market of particular strength for the global Salesforce mission.

“It's our second largest market. It's the largest market outside of North America and continues to grow, continues to be a pivotal market in the context of the global Salesforce arena, but also within the context of EMEA,” Bahrololoumi said. 

Because of the demand in the region for AI from customers, Bahrololoumi said it was “just very logical for us to pick the UK as the market to build upon the investment commitment that we made last year”.

The region has around 16,000 customers, according to Bahrololoumi, and is growing in size, giving it a sense of scale that also creates momentum for the company. 

“To have this dedicated space to talk AI, to work on AI challenges, to work on business challenges that we solve with our capability, I think is extraordinary,” added.