The UK Government has announced investment from US private equity firm Blackstone, which will go towards building a major data center in the North East of England to boost the country’s AI capabilities.
The £10 billion project is set to be one of the biggest data centers in Europe and will generate 4,000 jobs in the Blyth community. Building is set to begin next year, with an estimated 1,200 jobs to be created as part of its construction. The firm has also pledged to invest into skills training and infrastructure in the local area.
“The local community in Blyth – which suffered as a result of the failure of BritishVolt – will also directly benefit from the investment, with Blackstone confirming it will invest £110 million into a fund – supporting further skills training and transport infrastructure in the area,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said at the announcement.
A growing industry
Starmer noted foreign investment is crucial to the government’s plan for economic growth, and boosting the UK’s digital capabilities is crucial.
“The UK is a top investment market for Blackstone because of its powerful combination of talent and innovation along with a highly transparent legal system,” said President of Blackstone, Jon Gray.
“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. “
Newly classified as ‘critical infrastructure’, data centers are being constructed around the UK, with Google recently committing to a $1bn sustainable project in Hertfordshire, and Amazon investing £8bn in its data centre operations, set to support more than 14,000 jobs over the next four years.
New protections have also been afforded to data centres as part of the classification, as the UK looks to make itself more attractive for tech companies in future by ensuring business trust in the projects.
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