Invest in Social Infrastructure Alongside Physical Infrastructure
Invest in Social Infrastructure Alongside Physical Infrastructure UKAI welcomes yesterday’s announcement of a further £6.3 billion investment to build data centres across the UK from ServiceNow, CyrusOne, CloudHQ,CoreWeave. This follows the news back in April of Blackstone’s investment of £10 billion to build one of Europe’s largest data centres in Blyth and Amazon’s announcement in September that they will be investing £8 billion. These investments are testament to the hard work of successive governments in setting out the business case for the UK as a global leader in technological innovation, now and into the future. The new Labour government has underlined its commitment to supporting the technology ecosystem with a number of announcements, not least the imminent AI opportunities action plan. Investors are looking for certainty and the government’s announcement in August that they would speed up planning decisions to enable new infrastructure to be built has provided further reassurance: Confirmation of the Amazon investment came within weeks. Whilst these investments provide long term opportunities for businesses, UKAI believes that there is an even more important type of infrastructure, the social infrastructure. Of course there are a number of important phases to plan the development of these data centres and there are already a number of concerns around access to physical infrastructure (water, electricity, fibre) but it is time to start planning how we will connect these data centres to the local communities through skills, knowledge, training and jobs. We’re looking forward to seeing national and local government take the lead in bringing together universities, colleges, schools and communities in ‘clusters’ around these data centres. There is a massive opportunity to diffuse the skills, knowledge and capital from these new investments into the local communities. But, like the physical infrastructure, building the social infrastructure will take time and focus to plan and deliver. It’s time to start.
US Investment Firm Blackstone to build one of Europe’s largest datacentres in Blyth, Northumbria.
US Investment Firm Blackstone to build one of Europe’s largest datacentres in Blyth, Northumbria. The announcement that Blackstone, a leading US investment firm, will invest £10bn to build a cutting-edge AI datacentre in Blyth, Northumberland, marks a transformative moment for both the region and the UK as a whole. This ambitious project, set to create over 4,000 jobs and establish one of Europe’s largest hyperscale AI datacentres, reflects Northumbria council’s proactive engagement with international investors and reinforces the UK’s global position of leadership in AI. It is a great example of government and investors collaborating to create net-new opportunities across the UK. The jobs created and the investment in local infrastructure will provide concrete examples of the sorts of benefits that the AI industry can produce, helping to build public trust and support. Alongside the construction of the datacentre, £110 million will be allocated to improve transport infrastructure and provide skills training to ensure the local workforce is prepared to participate in this rapidly evolving industry. Hopefully, further public and private investment will follow, creating social infrastructure, specifically skills and training, around the datacentre that will have a long lasting and transformative impact in Blyth, a traditionally industrial region. This announcement comes soon after the announcement that Amazon will be investing £8bn in new datacentres, and further reinforces the UK’s International Leadership in AI. The sheer scale of these investments positions the UK as a premier destination for AI development and is a significant win for Blyth, Northumberland, and the UK. Building the future of AI in the UK is underway. We look forward to hearing more about the government’s plans to encourage further investment in skills and training, to really make the most of these opportunities and lay the foundations for economic growth and continued leadership in AI.