US private equity firm Blackstone has agreed to invest £10 billion ($13.3 billion) in a major AI data center in northeast England, the office of the British Prime Minister said. It will start constructing the facility next year and will create 4,000 jobs, with 1,200 arriving specifically to build out the site, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said during his visit to New York.
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As demand for energy-hungry data centers rises, they’ve become among the few areas of growth for the commercial landlord Blackstone-thanks, in part, to even offices, once revered assets, losing value since Covid.
This spring, Blackstone said it would build a hyperscale data center on a site in Northumberland earmarked for a high-profile battery factory for electric vehicles. “We’re going to be one of the largest investors in that economy,” said Jon Gray, Blackstone’s president.
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The plant was originally promised to UK startup Britishvolt, which last year collapsed in spectacular style a major set-back to the country’s aspiration to develop its home-based battery manufacturing industry.
Under the agreement, Blackstone will also invest £110 million in a local fund to be put toward improvements in skills training and transport infrastructure in Blyth, further stimulating the regional economy.
