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Data Center News Roundup: UK Investments, OCP Summit, Recent Deals
In this week's top data center news, the UK’s International Investment Summit targets data centers, and Nvidia makes nice with the Open Compute Project.
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With data center news moving faster than ever, we want to make it easy for industry professionals to cut through the noise and find the most important stories of the week.
The Data Center Knowledge News Roundup brings you the latest news and developments across the data center industry – from investments and mergers to security threats and industry trends.
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UK’s Data Center Investments
Data centers took center stage at the UK’s annual International Investment Summit on Monday. Investments announced around the Summit included:
£10 billion by Blackstone to build one of Europe’s largest AI data centers in Blyth, Northumberland.
£8 billion by Amazon Web Services to support approximately 14,000 jobs per year at local businesses throughout the tech giant’s data center supply chain, including construction, facility, maintenance, engineering, and telecommunications.
£2.5 billion by CyrusOne to open two new UK data centers (subject to planning permission) by Q4 2028.
£1.9 billion by CloudHQ to construct a “state-of-the-art” hyperscaler in Didcot, Oxfordshire.
£1.15 billion by ServiceNow to equip its UK data centers with Nvidia GPUs for processing LLM data.
£750 million by CoreWeave to support the demand for critical AI infrastructure in the UK.
In a press statement, the UK’s Department for Business and Trade wrote, “The investments follow immediate action taken by the new government to reform planning, focus on AI and data center expansion, and set a clear commitment to net zero by almost doubling the funding for renewable energy projects.”
Nvidia at the OCP Global Summit
Across the pond, at the Open Compute Project (OCP) Global Summit in San Jose, California, chipmaker Nvidia announced plans to share elements of its Blackwell platform design – including rack architecture, compute and switch tray mechanicals, and liquid-cooling and thermal environment specifications – with the open-source community.
“Building on a decade of collaboration with OCP, Nvidia is working alongside industry leaders to shape specifications and designs that can be widely adopted across the entire data center,” said Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.
“By advancing open standards, we’re helping organizations worldwide take advantage of the full potential of accelerated computing and create the AI factories of the future.”
This Week’s Data Center Deals and Developments
Much to cover in data center deals and developments this week – from investments in nuclear power to a new build in an Italian mine.
In the United States:
Apple launched a 315,773 sq ft data center on the company’s Waukee, Iowa campus, a ‘mere’ four years after the data center was originally planned to open.
On Tuesday, AI infrastructure company Crusoe Energy Systems, asset manager Blue Owl Capital, and investment firm Primary Digital Infrastructure announced a $3.4 billion joint-venture to fund and operate a 206 MW data center in Abilene, Texas.
As reported by the Phoenix Business Journal, data center operator Aligned Data Centers purchased property in Phoenix, Arizona’s Peoria Logistics Park to the tune of $43.2 million.
Amazon Data Services purchased 118 acres of undeveloped land in Douglas County, Georgia for $37 million.
Additionally, on Wednesday, Amazon announced $500 million in funding for Maryland-based X-Energy Reactor, a company that develops small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) and fuel.
In Europe:
Construction began this week on a 5MW data center in a somewhat unconventional location: an active dolomite mine outside Trento, Italy.
Blackstone announced plans to develop a €7.5 billion 300MW data center campus in Aragon, Spain.
Nearby, Damac-owned data center firm Edgnex announced its own plans to develop 40MW data center in Madrid.
In Asia:
Viettel Military Industry and Telecoms Group announced plans to build 24 new data centers in Vietnam by 2030.
State telecommunications company Telkom Indonesia launched a new data center in Pugeran, Yogyakarta.
Digital Edge announced the completion of a 36MW data center in the Seoul metro area. SEL2 is the operator’s third data center in South Korea.
For more development news, check out DCK’s monthly roundup of data center deals, builds, and investments.
Top Data Center Sustainability Credentials
Lastly, this week, regular Data Center Knowledge contributor Christopher Tozzi penned a guide to sustainability certifications and training programs for those working in the data center industry.
A formal sustainability credential, writes Tozzi, “helps to prove that you actually understand complex sustainability concepts and practices, and that you can put sustainability into practice inside data centers – as opposed to spouting buzzwords without understanding how they translate to everyday operations.”
While a formal sustainability credential can be a valuable career move, it also puts operators in a position to make better decisions in an industry where energy and resource efficiency isn’t just an environmental issue but an economic one.
Check out the full article to find all of Tozzi’s top sustainability certification picks!
Other Great Reads (and Watches) on DCK This Week
What Is Server Consolidation and How Can It Improve Data Center Efficiency? Although server consolidation is not particularly complex or expensive, writes Christopher Tozzi, it can be one of the most effective ways to boost overall data center efficiency.
How Are AI and Automation Impacting Modern Network Demands? In this webinar recap video, Neha Kaul, head of automation and AI technology for Guardian Life, reveals the best network and automation tools available and how to make the most of them as networks become more complex.
How to Reduce the Environmental Impact of Semiconductor Production. Reducing the energy consumption of semiconductor production is key for data centers to minimize their overall carbon footprint. This article explains how to make an impact.
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