BlackRock's £500m UK Data Centre JV Targets AI Demand During Trump State Visit

Inside BlackRock's Investment in UK AI Data Centres

BlackRock will commit £500m (US$679m) to UK data centre infrastructure through a joint venture with Digital Gravity Partners. The deal lands during US President Donald Trump's state visit and slots into a broader set of transatlantic investment announcements.

The focus: acquire and upgrade existing facilities instead of waiting years for greenfield builds. It's a faster route to AI-ready capacity and helps bypass grid connection delays.

Why this matters

AI workloads need massive compute. Training large language models can require thousands of specialised processors running nonstop for weeks or months.

Companies are scrambling for capacity. This investment is a direct response to that demand, giving enterprises and startups more options for GPUs, power, cooling, and low-latency connectivity.

The JV model: buy, retrofit, deploy

BlackRock and Digital Gravity will target existing sites and give them the "AI treatment": denser racks, liquid cooling, upgraded power distribution, and better network fabrics. It's often cheaper and quicker than new builds, and it makes stranded or underutilised assets productive again.

Digital Gravity brings deal flow and operating know-how across Europe and North America. BlackRock brings capital and access to customers who want scale and reliability.

Political and economic context

The announcement sits within a UK-US push to highlight economic ties. Government sources suggest total deal values across sectors could rival last year's summit headline numbers.

Reports indicate high-profile tech leaders, including Nvidia's Jensen Huang and OpenAI's Sam Altman, will join the visit, with separate UK commitments expected. The investments are expected to connect with the US$500bn "Stargate" initiative for next-generation AI infrastructure.

UK coordination is running through the Office for Investment, with formal announcements due early next week.

What this means for finance

• Infrastructure thesis: AI data centres as long-duration, cash-yielding assets with inflation linkage via power and capacity contracts.
• Deal pipeline: expect roll-ups of secondary sites near urban cores and energy hubs; watch for sale-leasebacks from telco and enterprise owners.
• Risk focal points: grid connections, power pricing, sustainability disclosures, and chip supply cycles.

What this means for IT leaders

• Capacity planning: pre-negotiate GPU blocks and colocation terms; availability windows will tighten around major upgrades.
• Cost control: expect premium pricing for high-density racks and liquid cooling; lock multi-year terms where possible.
• Resilience: assess diverse power sourcing (PPAs, on-site generation) and multi-region failover to manage outages and latency.

What this means for developers

• Access to compute: more UK-based options for training and fine-tuning reduces queue times and cross-border data friction.
• Model efficiency: prioritise techniques that cut tokens and epochs; hardware is expensive and time slots are tight.
• Latency strategy: place inference closer to users; split training vs. serving across regions to balance cost and performance.

Key watchpoints

• Power and cooling: how fast sites can secure additional megawatts, deploy liquid cooling, and maintain sustainability targets.
• Permitting: planning timelines for upgrades vs. new builds; community and environmental constraints.
• Supplier signals: Nvidia allocation, networking lead times, and the availability of next-gen accelerators.
• Follow-on deals: announcements from Nvidia and OpenAI, and how they integrate with the Stargate buildout.

Practical next steps

• Enterprises: reserve capacity now for 2025-2026 AI projects; align data residency and compliance early.
• Startups: combine cloud spot strategies with colocation for predictable training runs; monitor energy surcharges.
• Investors: track M&A of brownfield sites and long-term PPAs; scrutinise utilisation ramps and EBITDA per MW.

For context on BlackRock's approach to infrastructure, see its strategy overview: BlackRock Infrastructure.

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