Sir Keir Starmer has been meeting tech bosses who are keen to see more data centres built in Britain in order to expand the country’s computing capabilities.
Ministers have already promised to set up “AI growth zones” where the state will ensure a sufficient supply of power and water to enable companies to build new centres.
The Government’s technology strategy revolves around using planning laws, better infrastructure and a limited amount of public funding to encourage companies to invest.
Ministers hope to overcome local opposition to new data centres – which can be large and unsightly – by setting them up as part of an eco-system which creates jobs in the areas where they are built.
The areas that will host new data centres are likely to be confirmed at a future date. Government advisers have suggested that post-industrial towns in England and the Scottish coast, where there is often an excess of energy capacity, could be good candidates.
The Government has already designated data centres as “critical national infrastructure,” and changed planning laws so that local authorities must consider the country’s need for more computing power when weighing up planning applications.
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Read MoreThe Prime Minister told tech chiefs this week: “We are going to build more labs, more data centres – and we’re going to do it much, much more quickly.” He also announced £1bn to increase the amount of computing power available to scientific researchers by a factor of 20.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has sometimes been accused of getting too close to US big tech firms, while there are also questions about the environmental impact of building large numbers of new computing centres in the British countryside. Ministers insist the plans are essential to boosting future economic growth.
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