Blackstone Confirms $13 Billion AI Data Center for U.K.

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--U.S. investment house Blackstone Incorporated (New York, New York) has confirmed plans to spend up to 10 billion pounds (US$13 billion) to build Europe's largest AI data center in the U.K.

The U.K. government welcomed confirmation for the project, which will create around 4,000 jobs, and be based on a site in Cambois, near Blyth in Northumberland. The site was originally owned by failed U.K. electric vehicle (EV) battery company, Britishvolt which had aimed to be the U.K.'s first homegrown battery cell manufacturer. The phased-build project is one of a number of major data center projects revealed for the U.K. in recent weeks. Although the exact size and output of the project has yet to be confirmed, Blackstone has estimated it could feasibly be as large as 750 megawatts (MW), making it Europe's largest.

"The number one mission of my government is to grow our economy, so that hard-working British people reap the benefits--and more foreign investment is a crucial part of that plan," said U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer. "New investment such as the one we've announced with Blackstone today is a huge vote of confidence in the U.K. and it proves that Britain is back as a major player on the global stage and we're open for business."

Jon Gray, president and chief operating officer of Blackstone, said: "The U.K. is a top investment market for Blackstone because of its powerful combination of talent and innovation along with a highly transparent legal system. We are making significant commitments to building social housing, facilitating the energy transition, growing life sciences companies and developing critical infrastructure needed to fuel the digital economy. This includes a projected 10 billion-pound investment to build one of Europe's largest hyperscale data centers supporting 4,000 jobs. Blackstone is committed to Britain".

The project will be located at the Northumberland Energy Park Phase 3 (NEP3) on a 250-acre site. The U.K. has the highest number of data centers in Western Europe and the new Labor-led U.K. government is determined to grow that number. In September, it classed them as 'Critical National Infrastructure' projects alongside energy and water systems. This means that data centers can now expect greater government support in recovering from, and anticipating, critical incidents. Backed by a new government CNI data infrastructure team, data centers will have prioritized access to security agencies, including the National Cyber Security Centre emergency services should an incident occur. The new status is already boosting confidence among potential developers, including Blackstone. In related news, CloudHQ (San Francisco, California) and Amazon's (NASDAQ:AMZN) (Seattle, Washington) Web Services business unit confirmed they will be moving forward with a 1.9 billion-pound (US$2.5 billion) data center campus at Didcot Power Station.

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