Britain’s Billion-Pound Bet: Data Centres and AI to Anchor the UK’s Digital Future

The data centre uninterruptible power supply (UPS) market is set to grow from an estimated USD 8.76 billion in 2025 to USD 12.47 billion by 2030, reflecting a 7.3% compound annual growth rate. This expansion is driven by the rising demands of artificial intelligence workloads, increased cloud data traffic and the global spread of hyperscale data centres.

The AI infrastructure boom is hurtling forward with missionary zeal—vast data centres, eye-watering capital commitments, and grand visions of transformation. But if the energy transition taught us anything, it's that enthusiasm doesn’t guarantee success. Returns in renewables over the last decade were often underwhelming.

A powerful new alliance between Microsoft, NVIDIA and Anthropic is redrawing the map of the global AI landscape, combining compute power, enterprise scale and model innovation into a single, strategically integrated framework. The centrepiece? Anthropic’s $30bn Azure compute commitment, with Claude models embedded across Microsoft’s platforms, from enterprise suites to productivity tools.

The AI honeymoon is over. As we head into 2026, businesses are under growing pressure to prove that artificial intelligence—particularly generative AI—can deliver hard, measurable returns. According to SAS, CFOs are demanding real value within 6–12 months: cost savings, revenue growth, or productivity boosts. Projects that can’t deliver will be cut.

The explosive rise of artificial intelligence is fuelling a global infrastructure rush, with hyperscalers pouring billions into new data centres. Yet, amid the surge, a critical constraint is emerging: fibre-optic networks. These invisible arteries are vital for transporting the massive volumes of data AI systems generate and consume, but the existing fibre backbone—much of it laid decades ago—is rapidly becoming obsolete.