News
- Amazon's three-year plan includes £40 billion in UK investment
- "Thousands" of jobs set to be created across new and upgraded sites
- Most of the benefits will be seen in regions typically overlooked by such investments
Amazon has announced plans to invest £40 billion into the UK over a three-year period spanning between 2025 and 2027.
The multi-billion pound investment will fund the expansion of Amazon's operations within the UK, leading to more jobs, boosting national GDP and strengthening the infrastructure that Amazon relies on (and therefore other UK consumers and businesses).
The huge sum isn't insignificant – the UK is Amazon's third-largest market, after the US and Germany, two nations that have already seen billions in investments spanning both ecommerce infrastructure and sovereign cloud efforts.
UK Amazon investmentBoasting of its position as a top-10 private sector employer across the UK, with more than 75,000 citizens part of its workforce, Amazon said its latest investment would create thousands more jobs, the "vast majority" of which should be away from London and the South East.
Four new Amazon fulfilment centers are in the pipeline, including two in the East Midlands, one in Hull and a further one in Northampton - with the latter two anticipated to generate 2,000 jobs each.
The company also declared its investment would be nearly matched when it comes to boosting the UK's GDP, which Amazon anticipates adding £38 billion to the UK economy.
Besides adding further delivery stations across the UK, Amazon also plans to upgrade more than 100 operational buildings and open two more at its East London corporate HQ.
Promising a minimum salary of £28,000 for full-time workers (and £30,000 in London), robotics technicians, safety experts and mechatronic engineers will be among the more than 60 roles offered by the company as part of its huge investment.
"When Amazon invests, it’s not only in London and the South East – we’re bringing innovation and job creation to communities throughout England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, strengthening the UK’s economy and delivering better experiences for customers wherever they live," noted Amazon CEO Andy Jassy.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomed the "thousands of new jobs," which he described as offering "real opportunities for people in every corner of the country to build careers, learn new skills, and support their families."
“Amazon’s £40 billion investment adds another major win to Britain’s basket and is a massive vote of confidence in the UK as the best place to do business.," he added.
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- Device loss from UK governmental departments tops 2000 in just one year
- Experts fear stolen devices could provide entry points for hackers
- Phone and tablet thefts pose risk despite widespread encryption
Have you ever lost a phone or computer and worried about what someone might find on it?
Thousands of devices have gone missing from UK government departments in the past year, raising serious concerns about cybersecurity and data protection.
Analysis by The Guardian, based on freedom of information disclosures, found the government lost over 2,000 laptops, phones and tablets in the past 12 months, with a replacement cost estimated at around £1.3m.
Surprisingly large numbersThe Department for Work and Pensions, Ministry of Defence, and the Cabinet Office each reported hundreds of missing tech items.
The Ministry of Defence alone recorded 103 missing laptops and 387 phones in just five months of 2025. Other departments affected included HM Treasury, the Bank of England, and the Home Office.
“We treat all breaches of security very seriously and we require all suspected breaches to be reported. All incidents are subjected to an initial security risk assessment, with further action taken on a proportionate basis," an MoD spokesperson said.
Playing down fears, the defence department added, “Encryption on devices ensures any data is safeguarded and prevents access to the defence network.”
This sentiment was echoed by the Bank of England, which said it “takes the security of devices and data very seriously and has suitable protection in place.”
The same official line was trotted out by a government spokesperson who said, “We take the security of government devices extremely seriously, which is why items such as laptops and mobile phones are always encrypted so any loss does not compromise security.”
Professor Alan Woodward, a cybersecurity expert at the University of Surrey, wasn’t quite so reassured, telling The Guardian, “These are surprisingly large numbers. When you are talking about so many [it creates] a large attack surface [for hackers]. If 1% were system administrators who had their phones stolen, that’s enough to get in.”
He added, “If devices were open when stolen, as frequently happens with phones snatched on the street, criminals could keep them open and drill down into the device and once the phone is open, by design it is readable and accessible.”
You might also like- The Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold could be the first foldable phone with an IP68 rating
- This would give it more dust resistance than other foldables
- It might also have a slimmer hinge and a bigger cover screen than its predecessor
The best foldable phones have come a long way in recent years, but they still trail conventional handsets when it comes to dust resistance. That could change, though, with the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold.
According to Android Headlines, Google's next foldable will have an IP68 rating. That’s the same rating as you’ll find on high-end handsets like the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and iPhone 16 Pro, and it means the phone will be dust-tight and water resistant to depths of up to 1.5 meters for 30 minutes.
It’s a fairly standard feature on the best candybar phones, but it isn’t something you’ll find on any foldable phones at present, despite these usually being among the most expensive phones you can buy.
The Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold, for example, has an IPX8 rating, meaning it has the same level of water resistance but no dust resistance at all. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 does a bit better with an IP48 rating, meaning it’s good for water resistance and has some dust resistance, but it's only protected against things that are bigger than 1mm.
So, if this leak is accurate, then the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold could be the first foldable phone that’s properly protected against dust – though it’s possible that another upcoming foldable, such as the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, could beat it to that title, since Samsung’s phone will probably launch sooner.
A slimmer hinge and a bigger screenThe Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold (Image credit: Techradar / Zachariah Kelly)In any case, this report also claims that the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold will have a slimmer hinge than its predecessor, which will allow the phone as a whole to also be thinner. They don’t say how thin, but for reference, the Pixel 9 Pro Fold is 5.1mm thick when unfolded and 10.5mm thick when folded.
Additionally, the Pixel 10 Pro Fold’s cover screen will apparently be slightly bigger at 6.4 inches (up from 6.3 inches on the current model).
This is all reassuring to hear, because previous Pixel 10 Pro Fold leaks suggest that not much else might be getting improved. So, at least if this latest information is correct, there could be some reasons to upgrade.
We might find out exactly what the Pixel 10 Pro Fold has to offer on August 20, as leaks suggest that’s when it will land, with the phone likely to launch alongside the rest of the Google Pixel 10 series.
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