£10billion AI data centre set to create 4,000 North East jobs
Written by Kyoka Omori on 4th October 2024
The site of the planned new AI data centre in Blyth, Northumberland.
(Photo: Owen Humphreys/Alamy Images)
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced that a £10billion AI data centre planned by US company Blackstone will generate 4,000 North East jobs.
The centre will deal with the tremendous power, storage and cooling requirement of AI (artificial intelligence) technology, and also create networking infrastructure.
Construction will be begun next year, in Blyth, Northumberland, on what will become one of the largest AI data centres in Europe.
The site was bought by Blackstone – the largest ‘alternative asset management’ company in the world, with over a trillion-dollars’-worth of assets – earlier this year, after the collapse of ‘Britishvolt’, a UK start-up which had hoped to set up an EV battery factory.
The local community was disappointed with Britishvolt’s failure, because it was expected to create 8,000 jobs in an area where unemployment is higher than the national average.
Sir Keir said: “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.”
Sir Keir Starmer delivers his speech: ‘the government priority is to reconstruct economy’.
The UK’s international investment summit will be held on October 14, when the Prime Minister will encourage companies to invest in the UK.
What is an AI data centre and how does it work? Click here to read more.
