UK Government Plans to Fast Track AI Infrastructure 

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14 January 2025

The government believes that fast tracking planning approvals will help to expand the UK’s domestic AI infrastructure.

Proposed “AI Growth Zones” (AIGZs) could be set up in areas with existing energy capacity such as post-industrial towns and coastal Scotland, with a bespoke planning use-class for AI infrastructure.

The government’s AI Opportunities Plan aims to make the UK a world leader in artificial intelligence, and a core part of this mission relates to data centres which house the complex computers used to train AI models.

It believes that countries with a secure AI infrastructure will reap benefits through “increased economic growth, the reinvigoration of former industrial sites and ownership of critical strategic assets.”

According to JLL’s Global Data Centre Outlook, the hyperscale market (facilities that manage very large data processing and storage needs) is expected to grow 20 per cent from 2021 to 2026 as more major tech companies look to meet the demand for AI processing and storage requirements.

Pilot sites that have been suggested include Culham Science Centre near Oxford, a major international fusion research headquarters.

In terms of sustainability and carbon emissions from data centres, there is concern about the energy consumption of AI real estate, and of AI models in general. The largest hyperscale data centres have annual power demands that equate to electricity demand from around 350,000 to 400,000 electric cars. It’s been widely reported that a single search query to large language model ChatGPT generates between 2.5 to 5 grams of CO2. 

Picture: a graphic showing two computer-generated mannequins facing each other. Image Credit: Unsplash

Article written by Ella Tansley | Published 14 January 2025

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