OpenAI pulls out of UK data centre project

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OpenAI has pulled out of Stargate UK, a landmark data centre scheme. Part of a £31bn investment drive involving Nvidia, Microsoft and other big tech firms, it was announced during Donald Trump’s state visit in September. The overall package is meant to “mainline AI into the veins of the economy” as part of Labour’s growth push. But OpenAI has blamed regulatory concerns and high energy costs for getting in the way. The company is also scaling down other parts of Stargate, which was initially billed as a $500bn programme to expand AI capacity around the world. Compared to Nvidia, OpenAI’s planned work in the UK was small. A bigger concern is that elements of the broader initiative appear to be phantom investments.