The UK is entering a pivotal moment in its digital evolution.
As artificial intelligence accelerates globally, the strength of national digital infrastructure, particularly data centres is becoming a defining factor in long‑term competitiveness.
Already the world’s third‑largest data centre market, the UK now faces a new phase that will demand resilience, sustainability and strategic investment at scale.
AI is now reshaping demand at speed, driving the need for high‑density, sustainable facilities and accelerating growth across regional hubs. The race is on to build a resilient backbone that keeps the UK at the forefront of the global AI economy. Explore the opportunities and the risks defining the next decade of UK digital infrastructure.
The surge in digitisation, cloud adoption and data‑driven business models continues to fuel worldwide data centre expansion. AI is now reshaping this trajectory: workloads from large language models and advanced analytics are set to overtake traditional cloud computing as the primary driver of new capacity. With global data centre spending projected to rise sharply, the UK is well positioned but must act decisively to stay ahead.
Despite strong fundamentals, the sector faces mounting pressures.
To maintain its global leadership in AI and digital infrastructure, the UK must balance rapid expansion with sustainability, resilience and workforce development. Operators and investors that prioritise scalable, energy‑efficient, AI‑ready platforms and that align closely with government policy will be best positioned to capture long‑term value.
As demand for high‑density capacity intensifies, the winners will be those who invest early, partner effectively with local authorities, and build infrastructure capable of supporting the next generation of AI innovation.
Discover why organisations across the UK trust KPMG to make the difference and how we can help you to do the same.
