OpenAI has announced the opening of its first permanent London office, which will accommodate more than 500 team members, after the company halted a large-scale AI infrastructure project in the UK.
The US-based AI company announced on Monday that it had signed a lease for 88,500 square feet of space. In February, OpenAI announced that London would be its largest research hub outside the United States. The company currently employs around 200 people in the UK capital.
“The UK has an incredible talent pool and strong track record in AI,” Phoebe Tucker, OpenAI’s London site lead, said in a statement. “London is already an important hub for our research and team, and this new office gives us the space to continue building here.”
OpenAI’s new office space is located in London’s King’s Cross area, home to numerous AI companies including Google DeepMind. metaSynthesia and Wave.
The news comes days after OpenAI confirmed it had paused plans for the UK Stargate project, citing energy costs and the country’s regulatory environment.
Discussions between the company and its partner on the project, Nscale, are ongoing, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. However, the decision to cancel the project was thought to be a blow to Britain’s AI efforts.
UK industrial energy prices are among the highest in the world. Critics of the UK’s AI infrastructure previously told CNBC that high energy costs and slow access to the national grid were major obstacles.
Britain’s AI offensive
Although the UK is establishing itself as the world’s leading AI hub, it still lags far behind top ecosystems such as the US and China in terms of both innovation and funding.
With the launch of the AI Opportunity Action Plan in early 2025, AI startups are increasingly raising significant funding from VCs.
According to Dealroom, it has raised $6.7 billion so far this year, already just shy of the $8.2 billion it will raise in all of 2025.
AI cloud company Nscale raised $2 billion in March, self-driving startup Wave raised $1.2 billion in February, and AI voice startup Eleven Labs raised $500 million.
The Financial Times reported earlier this month that in the wake of a dispute between the Pentagon and OpenAI rival Anthropic, British authorities have stepped up efforts to court the company, including expanding its offices in London and proposing a dual listing.
