What New US Investment Means for UK Data Centre Growth

The UK data centre market has been busy in recent weeks, particularly in the wake of the October 2024 International Investment Summit.

Eager to bolster its data centre operations, the UK announced a major investment of £6.3bn (US$8.2bn) by US companies into industry-based technology. Including ServiceNow, CyrusOne, CloudHQ and CoreWeave, the investment includes significant data centre funding, in addition to SeAH Wind expanding its operations in the Teesside region to provide £225m for wind manufacturing and to create 750 jobs.

The news came in the midst of the UK government’s broader plans for the economy, which includes getting numerous industries ‘back on track’ for digital transformation. It also came in the wake of the Global AI Summit in 2023, demonstrating how the country continues to express its commitment to leading responsible innovation.

UK Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, hosted the summit in London with hundreds of global business leaders and stressed the importance of driving growth and innovation across the country.

Keeping a nation competitive

At the summit, the UK government unveiled an additional £50bn (US$65bn) in new investments designed to stimulate growth in sectors like AI, life sciences and infrastructure development. 

Keir Starmer emphasised the importance of private sector involvement as the country aims to create a stable environment for economic expansion. This is to align with the Labour government’s pledge to boost the economy. 

The new data centre investments will take the total investment in UK data centres to over £25bn (US$32bn) since this government took office in July 2024, as it seeks to continue driving growth by partnering with leading businesses. 

Specifically, CloudHQ is set to develop a new £1.9bn data centre campus in Oxfordshire.

These new data centres will provide the UK with more computing power and data storage, so that it has the necessary infrastructure to train and deploy the next generation of AI technologies. This includes support for complex machine learning models and algorithms, in the hope of rolling out AI faster in critical areas like healthcare, in efforts to help everyone live better and healthier lives.

Chairman of leading data centre company Kao Data, David Bloom, highlights the significance of this investment as a crucial boost to the UK's rapidly expanding data centre market. 

“This investment will continue to put the UK on the map as a key location in any data centre portfolio,” he comments. “However, these announcements also need to be coupled with a strategic vision to address core issues such as planning renewable power infrastructure and UK compute diversity to ensure the ambition turns to reality.”

UK Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, Peter Kyle, has also called the investment decisions a ‘vote of confidence’ for the country, stating that it demonstrates to global technology leaders that the UK is a desirable and stable place to invest in data centres.

CEO of Pure DC, Dame Dawn Childs, also commented: “It’s clear that we must prioritise not only human capital but also the technology and infrastructure that will drive productivity and innovation. The investment by US tech firms is testament to the potential that the UK holds as a leading destination for data centre development. 

“As we move forward, regulation must support – not hinder -  the development of critical infrastructure, such as data centres, homes, and transport links, which are vital to empowering our workforce and strengthening our economy.”

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