OpenAI is building another Stargate roject in the UK — scaling up to a whopping 31,000 of NVIDIA’s most advanced GPUs

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While President Trump visited the UK this week, the country also saw significant new investments in artificial intelligence from leading American companies.

After Google and Microsoft pledged to construct new AI datacenters in the country, OpenAI has made an even larger announcement. Their ambitious Stargate project – a massive undertaking to expand AI infrastructure within the United States – will actually be located in the UK.

This project will take place at various locations nationwide, with a key focus on a new AI development area in the North East of England.

From the announcement:

We’re excited to announce Stargate UK, a new partnership with NVIDIA and Nscale that will significantly increase the UK’s ability to independently run advanced AI. This means OpenAI’s powerful AI models can operate using UK-based computing resources, specifically benefiting areas where data location and legal regulations are important. Stargate UK will help drive the UK’s economic growth, strengthen its position in the global AI landscape, and support the goals outlined in the national AI Action Plan.

The concept of “sovereign AI” – having control over AI technology within a country’s borders – is gaining traction. Even though the underlying technology might be similar to what’s used elsewhere, certain critical applications, like those in government or healthcare, need to be managed domestically. This was a key theme in several announcements this week.

OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, commented:

The UK has a strong history of leading in artificial intelligence, boasting top researchers, a large user base for tools like ChatGPT, and a government that was quick to see the benefits of AI. Stargate UK is designed to build on this existing strength, helping to speed up scientific discoveries, boost how much we get done, and grow the economy. This collaboration shows our common belief that with the right technology infrastructure, AI can create more opportunities for everyone in the UK.

OpenAI is offering its artificial intelligence technology and the OpenAI Academy – a program designed to train people for jobs in the growing field of AI. The UK government hopes this will help 7.5 million people gain AI skills by 2030, which is just around the corner.

Nscale will provide the foundational infrastructure for the new data centers, and NVIDIA will power them with its latest GPUs. The project will begin with 8,000 GPUs in early 2026, potentially expanding to 31,000 units overall. This hardware will enable OpenAI’s technology to be used directly within the UK.

The UK-based company Arm Ltd also contributes, providing key designs used in NVIDIA’s Grace Blackwell chips.

It’s clear AI isn’t going anywhere, and it’s much more than just the chatbots like ChatGPT and Copilot that most people are familiar with. What’s really interesting is that, despite worries about AI replacing jobs, the recent surge in investment actually looks set to create a lot of new employment opportunities here in Britain over the next few years.

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2025-09-17 17:12