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In the last few days billions of dollars of data centre development have been announced adding to an already bumper year which was recently estimated by Synergy Research Group as being up around 13% estimate from the previous year.
The most recent announcement is from Microsoft, pledging its largest ever investment in the UK, £2.5 billion to expand AI data centre infrastructure.
The money, which was welcomed by the UK government, will be invested over the next three years to expand its next generation AI data centre infrastructure in London and Cardiff and will occur alongside a huge commitment from Microsoft to train one million people with the skills they need to work with AI or move into a career in AI.
Microsoft vice chair and President Brad Smith said, “Microsoft is committed as a company to ensuring that the UK as a country has world-leading AI infrastructure, easy access to the skills people need, and broad protections for safety and security,”
Also, this week, the UK has seen Kao Data announce its first data centre in the north of England with a proposal to invest £350million on a data centre on a vacant industrial site in Stockport, Cheshire, whilst outside of the UK, Frankfurt, Paris, and Northern Virginia will benefit from a Digital Realty – Blackstone joint venture.
The $7 billion project will see the construction of 10 data centres with load capacity coming online through 2025 and 2026.
Finally, in China, the proposed Hainan Undersea Data Center is touting the environmental credentials of using seawater acts as a natural coolant and saving an estimated 122 million kilowatt-hours of electricity every year.
The approach is innovative, but not without precedent – Microsoft tried something similar back in 2016.
Data centres are one of the 9 key themes tackled by Submarine Networks EMEA which takes place in London on 29th – 30th May 2024. Find out more at totaltele.com/subnets
