An AI Growth Zone in the North-east is set to unlock more than 5,000 new jobs and bring in £30bn in investment as the region becomes a hub for artificial intelligence development.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology says it will solidify the region’s ambition to become one of the largest data centre hubs anywhere in Europe – made up of sites in Blyth and Cobalt Park near Newcastle – helping to boost economic growth and create new jobs.

By boosting the rollout of AI in the area, this new AI Growth Zone will:

• Create thousands of jobs across the region, including in construction through to data engineering, AI research and development, and AI safety
• Put newly trained AI experts from local universities including Newcastle University, Durham University, Sunderland University and Northumbria University, within touching distance of the UK’s newest emerging tech hub
• Drive local economic growth and increase productivity of businesses in sectors including manufacturing, healthcare, energy and finance by enabling them to more easily adopt AI and compete globally
• See new breakthroughs in our understanding of drug discovery, climate change and safer technology by giving researchers, scientists, start-ups and academics access to AI power

Blackstone has already committed £10bn into the Blyth site – with the new designation of an AI Growth Zone providing the potential for an additional £20bn in investment from future partners. Last year it confirmed plans to develop the AI data centre, which will create  more than 4,000 jobs, including 1,200 roles during construction. The scheme from QTS, a Blackstone-owned digital infrastructure leader in designing, building and operating sustainable data centres, will see the creation of a data centre campus totalling up to 540,000 square metres along with other associated works and structures. 

Separate from the Blackstone investment, British firm Nscale, and leading American companies OpenAI and NVIDIA are to partner up to establish Stargate UK to deliver new AI infrastructure in the UK, developing a platform designed to deploy OpenAI’s technology on sovereign infrastructure in the UK.

The first phase will see OpenAI take up to 8,000 GPUs – computer chips which are the building blocks of AI technology, able to carry out a huge number of calculations in a split second – to support AI adoption across the UK early next year, with the possibility to expand to approximately 31,000 GPUs overtime.

Stargate UK is expected be based across a number of sites in the UK, including in Cobalt Park, which will form part of the newly designated AI Growth Zone in the North-east.

The news comes as the prime minister and president Trump ink a new deal to unlock investment and collaboration in AI, quantum and nuclear technologies - driving economic growth and boosting jobs.

North East mayor, Kim McGuinness, said: “Today’s announcement of an AI Growth Zone places the North-east at the forefront of the next technology revolution and will lead to billions of pounds of new investment in our region, thousands of better jobs and new opportunities for local people.

“I want kids in school here today to see their place in an AI-driven future. We know AI will be transformative for our economy, but this is how we make sure it also provides a new future for our young people, by working with business to create training and apprenticeship routes into this fast growing sector on a whole new scale.

“Our region boasts computing power that are among the best in Europe with Cobalt Park Data Centres already established in Wallsend and the QTS Cambois Data Centre Campus in Blyth due to open in 2028. We have the skills and brainpower in our tech sector and universities, and now we can match that with the new investment this Growth Zone will bring to the North-east from around the world.”

James Seppala, chairman of Blackstone Europe, said: “We are delighted that the government has designated our hyperscale data centre campus in Northumberland as an AI Growth Zone.

“This should help accelerate the development of one of Europe’s largest data centre facilities, with £10bn of projected investment by Blackstone funds. We hope that the project will represent a transformational investment for the region, with the potential to deliver substantial benefits to the country and local communities, by driving innovation, creating high-skilled jobs, and solidifying the UK’s position as a global AI leader.”

Universities across the region are already driving research in AI, from better patient care to new ways to speed up mortgage approvals and detect fraud.

Newcastle’s National Innovation Centre for Data is also developing an AI curriculum to upskill local residents on the use of AI through to training data scientists – making the region a prime location to capitalise on local infrastructure and a pipeline of talent. 

The £30bn potential investment includes £10bn already committed by Blackstone - with work underway to develop the site which will establish the region as a hub for AI development.