Dyson is to spend £100 million on a new technology centre in Bristol as part of a five-year programme of investments totalling £2.75 billion.
Sir James Dyson’s vacuum cleaner and home appliances business said it would employ hundreds of software and artificial intelligence engineers at the centre to develop new products and apps. Dyson’s UK operations are already staffed with more than 3,500 engineers working in research and development across sites in London and Malmesbury in Wiltshire.
The company is aiming to complete the construction of a Singapore battery plant by the end of this year and will start producing batteries there by 2025.
Dyson also plans to spend a further £166 million on a R&D centre in the Philippines.
The company revealed plans to capitalise on its sales growth in Asia by shifting its headquarters to Singapore in 2019. It said at the time that the tax benefits would be “negligible” and the decision had “nothing to do with Brexit”.
The founder, Dyson, 76, has become one of the country’s most prominent entrepreneurs after he invented the bagless vacuum cleaner and built a consumer goods business with annual revenues of more than £6 billion.
He was named the second richest individual in Britain last year when his net worth reached £23 billion, according to The Sunday Times’ Rich List.
“Software, connectivity, AI and proprietary new technology batteries will power the next generation of Dyson technology,” Dyson said. “Just like our long-term investments in pioneering digital electric motor technology, Dyson’s next generation battery technology will drive a major revolution in the performance and sustainability of Dyson’s machines.”
The technology company’s investment in the Philippines will create a campus for 400 engineers and more than 50 graduate engineers. The site is set to start operations in the first half of next year and will focus on software and hardware development, AI and robotics. Dyson said the centre would represent one of the largest investments in technology in the country.
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Dyson to open £100m technology centre in Bristol