OpenAI pulls out of landmark £31bn UK investment | OpenAI
OpenAI has suspended plans for a landmark project to boost the UK’s AI capabilities, citing high energy costs and regulations.
Stargate UK was part of the landmark UK-US Artificial Intelligence deal announced last September, which saw US companies commit £31bn to the UK’s tech sector, part of a wider range of investments aimed at “bringing the underpinnings of AI” to the British economy.
An investigation by the Guardian last month found that many of these were “dream investments” and that the supercomputer planned to go live in 2026 still had a docking yard in Essex this March. This supercomputer would be built by British firm Nscale, which has never built a data center before but says it aims to deliver the project in 2027. Nscale would also build major data centers for Stargate UK.
The Stargate project was to support Britain in creating “sovereign computing”, infrastructure that would allow the government and other UK agencies to run AI models in data centers in the country. This is, in theory, important for the security of UK data for both institutions and individuals.
An OpenAI spokesperson said: “We see huge potential for the UK’s AI future. We continue to explore Stargate UK and will move forward when the right conditions, such as regulation and the cost of energy, enable long-term infrastructure investment.”
OpenAI’s exact commitments under the Stargate project were always vague. It was announced during Donald Trump’s visit to the UK in September and comes as the Labor government looks to make artificial intelligence and data centers central to its economic growth plans.
High energy costs, exacerbated by the US-Israeli war against Iran, are delaying or derailing AI data center projects around the world. Britain’s industrial electricity prices were already the highest in Europe before the war began.
Nscale has been approached for comment.
