US AI giants launch major London expansions as talent and revenue scramble intensifies

Anthropic, OpenAI, other U.S. AI giants launch major London expansions amid talent and revenue scramble

Access to top technical and commercial talent is a key driver, analysts told CNBC. A slew of U.S. Big Tech and AI companies are racing to expand in London as they look to take advantage of the city's deep talent pools amid a push to develop and commercialize frontier tech. Anthropic and OpenAI both announced they'd taken up larger office spaces in the U.K. capital in recent months. Vibe coding platform Cursor unveiled plans this week to open a London headquarters this summer and Google said it will begin moving teams into a new 11-storey building in Kings Cross in the coming months. Other key U.S. software players, such as Databricks and Salesforce, are also upping headcount or expanding their campuses in the city. Elsewhere, electric vehicle company Rivian and Palantir said in the second half of 2025 they'd also be growing in London. "It's all about talent," Mike Wiseman, head of campuses at British Land, told CNBC. "London has built a deep and mature technology ecosystem over many years, and if you're looking to scale a business internationally, it's one of the few markets globally that can support that level of growth." After a quiet post-pandemic period, demand from tech companies has returned in London, Wiseman said. That's being driven by a "new generation" of companies that weren't on the radar a few years ago. Growth in the global AI sector has been fuelled by record funding figures over the past couple of years, as investors have rushed to back companies developing the tech. Startups globally have raised $392.1 billion so far this year, according to Dealroom, already dwarfing the previous record year of 2025, when companies secured $215.9 billion. London has emerged as one of the "deepest" pools of frontier AI talent outside of the U.S., Frederic Groussolles, partner at executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles, told CNBC. "A decade of investment anchored by DeepMind, major research labs and leading universities has created a mature talent base spanning AI research, engineering and commercial leadership." Founded in 2010 in London, DeepMind was acquired by Google in 2014, but maintained a large team in the U.K. capital. Google DeepMind has since been behind the tech giant's Gemini models alongside a number of AI breakthroughs. When announcing Anthropic's London expansion in April, which saw it secure office space for 800 people -- roughly four times its headcount in the city -- head of EMEA north Pip White specifically flagged the "exceptional pool of AI talent" as a key driver of the move. Anthropic's new office space will be located in the Knowledge Quarter area of London, home to a slew of AI companies including OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Meta, Synthesia and Wayve. London is also one of the world's principal financial centers, Groussolles added, giving companies "ready access to venture, growth equity and corporate development networks." All of this activity in the London market from often hugely well-funded U.S. tech companies is putting pressure on local startups and making hiring top talent harder, said Dan Hyde, executive chair and founder at executive search firm Erevena. "These [U.S] companies are in a position to offer attractive packages (cash and equity) and meaningful work. Lots of people want to work for those companies." Space is a significant constraint for London's tech sector. "The biggest structural challenge in London at the moment is supply," said Wiseman. "There is a well-documented shortage of high-quality office space coming through over the next few years, particularly in core locations, and that is likely to continue until 2030." British Land estimates that across London, there is a 10.4 meter square foot shortfall of new or substantially refurbished space to 2030. The shortage is being driven by the hypergrowth AI companies competing with more traditional finance and professional services firms for the same limited stock of top offices, added Groussolles. Beyond office space, there are concerns emerging around whether the infrastructure needed to support employees and rapidly increasing compute demands continues to match the pace of growth. "The bigger issue is whether we continue investing in the infrastructure that supports growth, talent, power, housing, transport and compute," said Ziv Reichert, partner at London-based VC firm LocalGlobe. "Talent brought the labs to London, but keeping them here will depend on whether the UK builds the infrastructure around them," he added. "Compute, energy and capital matter just as much as researchers." Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

US AI giants are flocking to London. Here's why

America's biggest AI companies are racing to expand in London. The boom is cementing the London AI hub as San Francisco's only real rival, even as the influx bids up the talent the UK's own startups are fighting for. US AI giants are planting flags in London at a pace the city has never seen, and in doing so they are turning the British capital into the clearest rival to San Francisco, while making life harder for the homegrown startups they are landing next to. In the past few months Anthropic has taken office space for 800 people in London's Knowledge Quarter, roughly four times its current headcount there; OpenAI opened its first permanent UK office; the coding-tool maker Cursor said it will open a London headquarters this summer; Google is moving teams into a new 11-storey building in King's Cross; and Databricks, Salesforce and the Nvidia-backed video startup Runway are all adding staff or space. The numbers behind the rush are stark: AI firms signed for 565,000 sq ft of London office space in the first four months of 2026, with another 288,000 sq ft under offer, against 211,000 sq ft in the whole of 2025 and 130,000 in 2024. Why London, and why now The pull is talent and money. 'It's all about talent,' Mike Wiseman, head of campuses at the developer British Land, told CNBC, calling London 'one of the few markets globally' that can support international scaling. The city is also one of the world's main financial centres, giving AI firms what analysts describe as ready access to venture, growth-equity and corporate-development networks as they chase commercial revenue. The clustering is self-reinforcing: Anthropic's new base sits in the same Knowledge Quarter as OpenAI, Google DeepMind, Meta, Synthesia and the autonomous-driving firm Wayve. London now hosts more AI companies with 50 or more employees than San Francisco does. That is the upside the UK government has chased, including through priority-access deals with OpenAI, DeepMind and Anthropic. But there is a catch the boosterish framing tends to skip. The same well-funded American firms are bidding up the price of the engineers and researchers that British startups need, and Dan Hyde, who runs the executive-search firm Erevena, warns the activity is putting pressure on local startups and making top talent harder to hire. A founder competing with Anthropic's compensation budget is not competing on equal terms, and the UK has spent years trying to keep talent like its DeepMind alumni building companies at home rather than feeding the US giants. None of this is slowing down. The leasing record looks set to break again in the second half of the year, and the trend points one way: London is cementing its place as the most important AI hub outside the United States. The open question is whether Britain ends up owning a serious slice of that industry, or simply hosting everyone else's. For now the city is winning the offices, the jobs and the prestige. Whether it keeps the companies is the harder test, and the one the people doing the work are watching most closely.