Ark to invest GBP £7.5 billion in UK’s first NVIDIA Blackwell AI hub
Ark Data Centres has agreed a partnership with AI cloud company Nebius to deploy the UK's first NVIDIA Blackwell B300 GPUs, marking the first such installation outside the United States.
The partnership will see Nebius deploy around 9,000 GPUs at Ark's Longcross Park campus in Surrey, a site specifically constructed for high-density, liquid-cooled AI workloads. This deal constitutes Nebius's inaugural entry into the UK market and forms a key part of Ark's wider investment plans, with the company committing GBP £7.5 billion to expand its UK data centre capacity.
UK compute expansion
The companies said the initial deployment would comprise roughly 4,000 NVIDIA Blackwell Ultra GPUs. These resources are aimed at supporting a range of users including UK start-ups, research institutes, enterprises, and public sector organisations such as the NHS, making advanced AI computation available domestically.
The GPU roll-out is aligned with objectives set by the UK government's AI Opportunities Action Plan, which seeks to broaden the UK's compute infrastructure to support ongoing development and innovation in the sector. Beyond direct benefits to local developers and institutions, both companies anticipate the new deployment will generate jobs and attract further investment into the UK technology sector.
Purpose-built facility
Under the agreement, Nebius will lease purpose-built, liquid-ready data hall space at Longcross Park. The Surrey campus is designed to accommodate advanced AI computational needs, with high-density power systems, advanced cooling technology, low-latency connectivity, and sustainability features that meet the requirements for next-generation GPU accelerators.
Andrey Korolenko, Chief Product and Infrastructure Officer at Nebius, said: "Partnering with Ark gives us access to an environment built for the next wave of GPU innovation, with the right infrastructure that is needed to support today's highly intensive AI cloud workloads. By locating compute resources close to the UK's world-class start-ups, enterprises, researchers and public-sector innovators, we will enable them to move faster from idea to implementation."
Ark Data Centres has highlighted the ability of the new cluster to reliably power AI workloads due to the site's combination of high-efficiency cooling, resilient power arrangements, and on-site power generation, stating that these were features many older data centre sites are unable to provide.
Huw Owen, CEO, Ark Data Centres added: "AI clouds need sites that can deliver high density cooling today and scale rapidly tomorrow. Longcross Park was engineered precisely for that challenge and we are delighted to welcome Nebius to the UK as a key AI tenant. This agreement shows that the UK already has the infrastructure to support global innovators and it underlines our commitment to invest £7.5 billion in new, AI-ready capacity across the country to underpin the UK's AI future."
Nebius's global footprint
Nebius's UK expansion is part of a broader international strategy to build clusters supporting AI innovation at scale. With the addition of Longcross Park, Nebius will operate seven AI clusters in six countries across Europe, the US, and the Middle East.
The deployment at Longcross Park represents one of the largest GPU installations in the UK to date and is forecast to become operational in the fourth quarter of 2025. Both companies underscored that the investment will make advanced AI compute more readily available to a wider range of UK organisations, helping to accelerate research, commercialisation, and public sector applications.
The installation of the NVIDIA Blackwell Ultra GPUs is expected to deliver a substantial increase in computer capacity available within the UK, responding to rapidly growing demand from AI developers and organisations requiring high-performance cloud infrastructure.
