OpenAI And SoftBank's Stargate Considers Major UK Investment To Fuel AI Growth

Stargate is considering a future investment in the U.K. to build the global infrastructure needed to support advanced artificial intelligence models.

Sir Keir Starmer’s government recently announced plans to boost investment in its growing AI industry, including developers’ access to energy, the Financial Times reported, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter.

The OpenAI and SoftBank SFTBF SFTBY- backed AI infrastructure joint venture is raising $100 billion to invest in AI infrastructure projects.

Also Read: SoftBank To Build $676 Million AI Data Center In Japan, Linked To OpenAI Partnership

The figure could reach $500 billion over the next four years. Nvidia Corp NVDA will supply 64,000 AI chips for the Stargate data center in Texas. OpenAI tapped Oracle Corp ORCL to supervise the supercomputer being built in the Abilene data center.

Investment in the U.K. has been considered part of a future international expansion despite the focus on the U.S.

U.K.’s plans to boost data centers’ access to electricity have stimulated the project’s interest, the Financial Times reported, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter. 

OpenAI said the U.K. was one of its key overseas markets.

Lately, OpenAI has been lobbying European governments to relax regulations and invest in data center infrastructure.

Last Wednesday, the European Commission announced its plan to invest more in AI data centers, including regulatory relaxations.

However, the project’s ambition remains vulnerable to President Donald Trump’s new tariff policies.

Trump’s 145% tariff on China alone could translate into over $11 billion surge in annual costs for U.S. data centre developers, Financial Times cited Altana.

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