“We see huge potential for the UK’s AI future. London is home to our largest international research hub, and we support the Government’s ambition to be an AI leader,” an OpenAI spokesperson said in a statement.
“AI compute is foundational to that goal – we continue 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,” they added.
The BBC has approached the government for comment.
OpenAI said when announcing its UK data centre project in September it would help strengthen the UK’s “sovereign compute capabilities” and bolster its native AI development.
“This will help power the UK’s future economy, boost its global competitiveness and deliver on the country’s national AI Opportunities Action Plan,” the company wrote, external.
Stargate UK, based at Cobalt, Northumberland, was much smaller than OpenAI’s US-based Stargate project – which committed a $500bn investment over four years to build new AI infrastructure.
But its announcement on Thursday comes as a potential blow to the government, which has championed home-grown tech and AI development as a way to bolster economic growth.
Technology secretary Liz Kendall said in a speech in January that the UK’s AI sector had grown 23 times faster than the economy as a whole.
OpenAI added in its statement it would continue to invest in talent and expanding its presence in the UK, alongside delivering on commitments set out with the government about deploying powerful AI systems in UK public services.
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