News

Datacentre capacity planning

• May 06, 2026 06 May'26

  Cloud and data sovereignty caught in a paradox

  We asked the hyperscalers how they would respond to US court-ordered eavesdropping on foreign citizen data – and got responses that highlight a paradoxical situation

• April 30, 2026 30 Apr'26

  India aims for the stars with orbital datacentres

  As terrestrial datacentres face severe power and cooling constraints, space-based facilities promise unlimited solar energy and low latency for AI inferencing, provided the industry can overcome challenges

• April 27, 2026 27 Apr'26

  DSIT gets sums badly wrong on AI datacentre carbon footprint

  Government revises July 2025 projections for AI-driven datacentre carbon footprint upwards by around 100x, but Carbon Brief suggests the numbers could be much higher still

• April 22, 2026 22 Apr'26

  Blackbox replaces two racks of HPE storage with 8U of Everpure

  UK-based IaaS ‘sovereign’ provider, with multiple public sector-facing clients, replaced end-of-life 3PAR arrays with FlashArray storage that saw it reduce power consumption by 85%

• April 15, 2026 15 Apr'26

  Data dive: A new American Century in the datacentre pipeline?

  Looking at datacentre development internationally, we see how the UK faces apparent relative decline, how countries are responding to the AI age, and what MW vs GDP can tell us

• April 13, 2026 13 Apr'26

  Go West! US datacentres head for available and cheap energy

  Texas the hotspot as US datacentres enter the GW age, Virginia set to hold its status as ‘datacentre alley’, while constrained west coast states set for market share decline

• April 10, 2026 10 Apr'26

  OpenAI ‘pauses’ Stargate UK: Sudden setback or calculated move?

  OpenAI’s decision to pause Stargate UK, much vaunted and based on a memorandum of understanding with government, cites energy costs and regulation, but may be driven by wider uncertainties

• April 08, 2026 08 Apr'26

  Azure customers up in arms over ‘full’ UK South region

  Microsoft customers report being refused capacity, migration projects stuck halfway, and accusations that AI is being prioritised over ‘bread and butter’ offerings

• April 08, 2026 08 Apr'26

  Hyperscaler datacentres set to dominate by 2031

  Driven by artificial intelligence deployments, hyperscaler datacentres are expected to comprise more than two-thirds of all capacity by 2031. Meanwhile, on-premise datacentre capacity will shrink to 20%, down from 56% in 2018

• April 08, 2026 08 Apr'26

  Optical networks to bridge the AI compute-consumption gap

  With AI spurring gigawatt-scale datacentre builds across APAC, Ciena is deploying ultra-fast, energy-efficient optical networking and AI-driven automation to ensure AI services can reach consumers

• April 06, 2026 06 Apr'26

  Digital Realty CTO on AI tokenomics and datacentre infrastructure

  Chris Sharp talks up the pace of AI silicon innovation, the growth of inferencing workloads, and why boasting about datacentre megawatts misses the point

• April 02, 2026 02 Apr'26

  Data dive: UK government’s 2030 datacentre capacity targets look shaky

  We look at UK datacentre capacity – current and projected – and find DSIT’s 2030 target for 6GW of AI-capable capacity is currently out of reach, unless operators get a move on

• March 23, 2026 23 Mar'26

  Bucks landfill datacentre first to get Nationally Significant status

  300MW proposed project is the first to be allowed to benefit from streamlined national-level planning process after being given Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project status by ministers

• March 19, 2026 19 Mar'26

  Hit the north! UK datacentre focus shifts to M62 and points north

  Barbour ABI data shows 8GW of total datacentre pipeline with most big projects in the north and Scotland, while London and the M4 corridor are about 25% of projected capacity

• March 18, 2026 18 Mar'26

  Nvidia workforce to be dominated by AI agents in a decade

  Jensen Huang expects digital workers to vastly outnumber human employees at Nvidia, while also revealing plans to restart mainland China operations and declaring autonomous driving a solved problem

• March 17, 2026 17 Mar'26

  NetApp targets E-Series at AI and neoclouds with EF50 and EF80

  High-performance non-ONTAP workhorse targets AI use cases and aims to ensure GPUs get fed optimally, with claimed 2.5x boost in performance over previous models

• March 12, 2026 12 Mar'26

  Enormous AI growth zone datacentre gets planning approval

  North Lincolnshire Council approves 1GW datacentre with nearby electricity generation, but environmental campaigners say the developers did their sums wrong

• March 11, 2026 11 Mar'26

  UK government reforms could see datacentres jump grid connection queue

  With electricity grid demand ballooning, the UK government plans for consultation and reform to ensure feasible and prioritised projects get the thumbs up

• March 11, 2026 11 Mar'26

  Oracle cost-cutting points to AI infrastructure gamble

  Over the past few weeks, cracks have started to appear in the tech sector’s growth plans for artificial intelligence

• March 09, 2026 09 Mar'26

  AI factory builder Nscale announces another $2bn of funding

  Nscale has a pipeline of 1.3GW of capacity across the UK, Norway and the US, with contracted supply of 200,000 Nvidia GPUs, and is name-checked as a British supplier of AI factories

• March 05, 2026 05 Mar'26

  Huge grid and heat challenges ahead as Nvidia set for 1MW rack

  With Nvidia Feynman in 2028, 1MW datacentre racks will produce as much heat as 200 5kW ovens. Industry and government must respond, says Schneider Electric UK datacentre executive

• March 04, 2026 04 Mar'26

  Is there no stopping the AI spending spree?

  Looking at Nvidia’s latest financial results, it would seem that spending on compute is set to increase tenfold by 2030

• March 03, 2026 03 Mar'26

  National Grid, Nebius and Emerald hail datacentre power throttling

  In a UK-first trial, Emerald AI acts as intelligence in datacentre energy management to throttle demand at peak loads, including being able to respond rapidly to energy system stress

• February 26, 2026 26 Feb'26

  UK to see weekend protests against ‘dirty datacentres’

  Environmental charity Global Action Plan UK is coordinating a campaign effort to bring attention to wider concerns about datacentre electricity demand, water use and environmental impacts

• February 26, 2026 26 Feb'26

  First HPE datacentre modules set to land at Derbyshire AI site

  Carbon3.ai’s plans for a ‘national grid for AI’ based on renewable energy set to break ground for the first time at Derbyshire landfill site powered by off-grid gas

• February 19, 2026 19 Feb'26

  Neom partners with DataVolt on $5bn hyperscale datacentre project for digital infrastructure

  The landmark 1.5GW renewable-powered facility at Oxagon signals the Kingdom’s accelerating investment in AI infrastructure, sustainable computing and next-generation digital cities

• February 18, 2026 18 Feb'26

  EU-South Korea research consortium gets to work on lowering AI chip energy use

  EU-South Korea research group is pioneering the use of photon-based hardware chips to help reduce the energy consumption of artificial intelligence datacentres

• February 17, 2026 17 Feb'26

  Datacentre demand is huge but power and skills hold things back, survey shows

  BCS Consultancy survey finds demand for datacentres is growing apace, but power constraints and skills shortages are hampering delivery and operations

• February 03, 2026 03 Feb'26

  Gartner: AI and datacentre spending ramps up

  Hyperscalers are increasing AI capacity but IT buyers are now looking at their return on investment for this much-hyped technology

• January 30, 2026 30 Jan'26

  Microsoft has already contracted GPUs to balance costs

  The company claims that thanks to software optimisation and hardware asset management, it can make datacentre kit last six years, and has already contracted GPUs for most of their useful life to customers

• January 29, 2026 29 Jan'26

  Meta’s latest results show diversification of datacentre capacity strategy

  The social media giant is facing increased datacentre costs due to rising server, memory and storage prices

• January 28, 2026 28 Jan'26

  Scotland gets AI growth zone boost in Lanarkshire

  CoreWeave is building a 500MW AI cloud, providing the region with 800 high-paid jobs in artificial intelligence

• January 26, 2026 26 Jan'26

  STT GDC launches HVDC testbed to address AI’s power demands

  The FutureGrid Accelerator on Jurong Island will test the use of high-voltage direct current power systems, as traditional alternating current power systems can no longer address the growing energy needs of AI datacentres

• January 26, 2026 26 Jan'26

  Dawn supercomputer gets sixfold boost thanks to £36m funding injection

  The government is ploughing in public money to build out one of the UK’s most powerful supercomputers

• January 20, 2026 20 Jan'26

  Google Cloud opens Bangkok region to support Thailand’s AI economy

  The hyperscaler’s Thai cloud region is part of a $1bn investment to meet the growing demand for cloud services in the kingdom

• January 20, 2026 20 Jan'26

  Digital Realty enters Malaysia with acquisition of Cyberjaya datacentre

  The datacentre provider expands Southeast Asian footprint beyond Singapore and Jakarta, acquiring a connectivity hub in Cyberjaya with plans for a 14MW campus to support regional AI and cloud workloads

• January 15, 2026 15 Jan'26

  Zoho opens its first UAE datacentres to boost cloud adoption

  New Dubai and Abu Dhabi facilities support data sovereignty, providing CIOs with local access to more than 100 Zoho and ManageEngine cloud services

• January 14, 2026 14 Jan'26

  AON ups insurance offering to protect datacentre developers from costs incurred by project delays

  Professional services company AON is expanding its insurance offering for datacentre developers and investors, citing the growing complexity and risk profile of server builds

• January 14, 2026 14 Jan'26

  Microsoft urges tech rivals to cover datacentre expansion-related power costs to protect consumers

  Microsoft claims it is not right for consumers to foot the bill for the rising energy costs caused by AI datacentre expansions, and is calling on the tech community to act accordingly

• January 05, 2026 05 Jan'26

  How Bahrain is building a region-leading digital economy

  From hyperscale cloud and fintech regulation to AI skills and smart manufacturing, Bahrain is positioning technology at the heart of its economic diversification strategy, says Bahrain EDB’s Musab Abdullah

• December 22, 2025 22 Dec'25

  Top 10 datacentre stories of 2025

  It’s been a busy year for datacentre news, with the UK government’s ambitions to expand AI growth zones, along with controversies surrounding the effect of these plans on the environment. Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 datacentre stories of 2025

• December 19, 2025 19 Dec'25

  Government set for early 2026 court hearing over decision to approve Iver datacentre development

  A court date has been assigned for a legal action being brought against the government over its decision to grant planning permission for a datacentre in Iver

• December 15, 2025 15 Dec'25

  Top IT predictions in APAC in 2026

  Enterprises across the Asia-Pacific region are expected to prioritise sovereign architectures, double down on securing agentic systems and rewrite their infrastructure playbooks, among other tech trends

• December 15, 2025 15 Dec'25

  Microsoft taps Indian IT giants for agentic AI rollout

  The partnership with Cognizant, Infosys, TCS and Wipro follows a $17.5bn pledge by the tech giant to bolster India’s cloud and AI infrastructure

• November 26, 2025 26 Nov'25

  Chip makers warn of a looming shortage in DRAM and SSD

  Hyperscalers and server manufacturers are ordering too many memory components for their AI infrastructures - more than the market can produce. As a result, prices are rocketing, and a shortage could last until 2027

• November 20, 2025 20 Nov'25

  UK government outlines next wave of AI investment plans

  The UK government continues to build on the release of its AI opportunities action plan, with the announcement of another AI Growth Zone plus investment opportunities for the nation's startup community

• November 20, 2025 20 Nov'25

  Qualcomm and Humain launch AI engineering centre in Riyadh

  Saudi Arabia strengthens its artificial intelligence ambitions under Vision 2030 with a new Qualcomm-powered datacentre hub, as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman highlights tech innovation during his US visit

• November 19, 2025 19 Nov'25

  Datacentre energy demands set to soar by 2030 as AI growth accelerates, predicts Gartner

  IT market watcher Gartner has shared its projections about how the energy consumption habits of datacentres are set to change as AI takes off

• November 14, 2025 14 Nov'25

  Dutch datacentre growth stalls while hydrogen remains untapped

  ING warns grid congestion threatens Dutch datacentre leadership, while the country’s championed hydrogen solution remains largely untapped

• November 13, 2025 13 Nov'25

  CBRE charts rise of neocloud providers within European colocation market

  Real estate consultancy CBRE’s latest colocation market tracker shines a light on the impact neocloud providers are having on the supply and demand dynamics of the European datacentre market