Ahead of this week’s confirmation of the UK’s AI cooperation deals, there has been a fascinating background discussion about how the breakneck expansion of the UK’s data centre (DC) fleet will be powered up. There are proposals to collocate nuclear power stations with DCs at the former Cottam Power Station in Nottinghamshire and, on Teesside, an AI DC could potentially occupy a site that has so far been allocated to a  blue hydrogen plant proposed by BP.

AI development is a vital strategic initiative. Although the UK is Europe’s leading datacentre (DC) location, digital investment needs to accelerate further as countries compete to develop “sovereign” AI for purposes such as security, defence and research and development. 

Microsoft, OpenAI and Nvidia are bringing the technology, but the deal announed on Tuesday night is reported to be contingent on the UK government facilitating access to power. So, is this simply a planning problem solved by the AI Growth Zone designation, or is there a capacity issue too?