OpenAI’s apparent failure to visit key site raises questions over UK investment

OpenAI’s Stargate UK datacentre project was paused in April amid regulatory and energy-cost concerns, and the company never visited one of the key sites, the Guardian reported. Government claims of £20bn in potential investment appear to have been hypothetical, based on the sum the site would need rather than any committed funding. The project was announced during a series of US-UK tech deals that accompanied Donald Trump’s visit to London last September [1]. OpenAI was to work with London-based AI infrastructure firm Nscale and chipmaker Nvidia to develop sites across Britain, with the most prominent planned for Cobalt Park in North Tyneside [1][5]. A freedom of information request shows neither OpenAI nor Nscale ever met with local authorities at the site. Only Nvidia visited the North East combined authority, doing so in February 2026, five months after Trump’s visit [1]. “They needed a big announcement,” a source with knowledge of the process said [1]. Another source stated: “It was never really a thing. It was effectively just a government PR stunt, and Sam Altman took the hit when the plug got pulled.” [1] The government had designated the Cobalt Park location an “AI growth zone” and said it was “set to” attract £30bn in investment. Of that, £10bn was committed by Blackstone for a separate datacentre. The remaining £20bn was described as “potential” investment from future partners [1]. When asked how the figure was calculated, the government told Spotlight on Corruption that it represented the amount needed to build a datacentre and obtain computing power to utilise the site’s 1.1GW electricity supply [1]. “It is disingenuous for the government to imply that the £20bn for the AI growth zone will be forthcoming, when it reflects the amount needed,” said Kamila Kingstone, senior campaigner at Spotlight on Corruption [1]. AI datacentres are far more power-intensive than general-purpose facilities, typically using around 60 kilowatts of electricity per server rack compared with 10 kilowatts for conventional datacentres [6]. Major tech companies are estimated to spend $650bn on such facilities globally in 2026 [6]. John Johnsson, leader of the Conservatives in North Tyneside, said local authorities were caught off guard. “When it was announced, we were really, really taken aback. We were surprised because we weren’t made aware of any of these discussions,” he said [1]. He added that the fundamentals — energy costs, grid capacity and infrastructure — did not appear to be in place to support a project of this scale [1]. An OpenAI spokesperson said the company continues to explore Stargate UK and “will move forward when the right conditions such as regulation and the cost of energy enable long-term infrastructure investment” [1]. A government spokesperson said a dedicated taskforce is driving forward planning for the North East AI growth zone, which will increase energy capacity to 1.1GW once fully operational, with over 400MW expected to come online in 2028 [1].