Watch all the Transform 2020 sessions on-demand here.
Amazon has announced plans to expand its development center in Cambridge, England as the internet giant doubles down on its investment in machine learning, drones, Alexa digital, and other forms of artificial intelligence.
It’s been known that Amazon has for some time had a “top secret” lab in Cambridge, where it has been building out its Prime Air drone delivery service — in fact, it was in this very city that the company first delivered a package by drone back in December. Moving forward, Amazon will now have two sites in the famous university city, which is located about 50 miles north of London, and plans to open a new 60,000 sq. ft facility later this fall.
The new building can fit around 400 people, who will include “machine learning scientists, knowledge engineers, data scientists, mathematical modellers, speech scientists, and software engineers,” according to a press release issued by the company. However, the facility will also house current employees working on a range of Amazon devices, including the Alexa-enabled Echo, the Kindle, and the Fire tablet.
When the new facility opens, the existing base will be used primarily to develop the company’s Prime Air drone service.
June 5th: The AI Audit in NYC
Join us next week in NYC to engage with top executive leaders, delving into strategies for auditing AI models to ensure fairness, optimal performance, and ethical compliance across diverse organizations. Secure your attendance for this exclusive invite-only event.
“By the end of this year, we will have more than 1,500 innovation-related roles here in Britain, working on everything from machine learning and drone technology to streaming video technology and Amazon Web Services,” noted Doug Gurr, Amazon’s U.K. country manager.
Amazon has been announcing major expansion plans around the world this year. In the U.K., the company recently committed to hiring 5,000 employees across the country, and it also announced plans to grow its headcount by 55 percent in the U.S. over the next 18 months, taking its domestic employee count to 280,000.
Naturally, the U.K. government was quick to pounce on this latest news as evidence of the country’s continued success in a post-Brexit world, with minister of state for digital and culture, Matt Hancock, adding: “Amazon’s increased investment in developing cutting-edge technology in Cambridge is another vote of confidence in the U.K. as a world-leading center of invention and innovation.”
