The US computing giant will increase its cloud data centre footprint from two to six in the UK with the multi-million pound investment.
The first facility will be opened in Fareham by the end of the December with the others set to go live in 2017. It follows the announcement of IBM’s first data centre in the Nordics in September.
The move will make Europe its biggest cloud network, with 16 cloud data centres in the region, and comes off the back of a series of colocation deals, including one to lease space from Ark Data Centres. Overall, it has more than 50 data centres worldwide.
The adoption of cloud technology has grown rapidly rapidly over the last five years, according to industry body the Cloud Industry Forum, hitting 84%. IBM said the new centres will give its customers access to a complete portfolio of its cloud services.
"By adding four new Cloud data centres in the UK, IBM is giving local businesses an easy route to the cloud, helping them quickly innovate and respond to market demands,” said Robert LeBlanc, senior vice president of IBM Cloud.
"IBM is continuing to invest in high growth areas, offering clients higher-value cloud data services such as Watson and Blockchain running on our cloud infrastructure that delivers world-class scalability, performance and security."
It is the latest data centre announcement from a US software company, following the recent news that Google plans to expand its cloud platform into new regions in the US and Asia.
It is also good news for the UK government, which has faced uncertainty in the wake of its referendum vote to leave the European Union. Despite the Brexit vote, Facebook recently announced plans to invest in the UK, just days after Google unveiled a £1 billion investment plan.
The UK government welcomed IBM’s announcement. Minister for digital and culture Matt Hancock said: "We are already among the most digitally connected countries in the world, with a globally successful digital economy worth more than £118billion a year and strong cyber security defences to protect consumers and business.
"Today's announcement by IBM is a further boost for this thriving area, and another vote of confidence which shows Britain is open for business. These new cloud data centres will help our firms work smarter and quicker to become the world-leading businesses of tomorrow."
