The race for to get selected to build AI Growth Zones stepped up a gear today after the government said it would be welcoming expressions of interest (EOIs) for the scheme from local and regional authorities.

Industry – including energy companies and data centre developers – is also being called upon to help drive forward government plans to roll out AI Growth Zones. Their proposals will help to inform the final selection of sites and broader policy decisions later this year, in a bid to secure investment and drive growth in regions across the country.

The government cautioned that the EOI is not part of the formal AIGZ selection process, which will still open as planned in Spring 2025. However, it will help inform site selection and policy development, ensuring we are able move quickly to secure investment and growth.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said it was particularly interested in:

• sites with large existing power connections (100MW+) or a clear path to securing them
• deindustrialised areas with land and infrastructure suitable for redevelopment
• locations near land suitable for hosting low carbon power generation and storage
• regions with an existing tech or industrial base that could benefit from AI infrastructure and support the formation of a wider innovation hub
• authorities willing to work collaboratively on ambitious planning and energy solutions to accelerate AI infrastructure deployment

Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology, Peter Kyle, said: “These new AI Growth Zones will deliver untold opportunities – sparking new jobs, fresh investment and ensuring every corner of the country has a real stake in our AI-powered future.

“We’re leaving no stone unturned in how we can harness expertise from all over the UK to deliver new opportunities, fresh growth, better public services and cement our position as an AI pioneer.”

Unveiled in the government’s AI Opportunities Action Plan last month, AI Growth Zones will speed up planning permission to rapidly build AI infrastructure including data centres and give them the energy connections needed to power AI innovations in areas like healthcare. The only Growth Zone named so far has been Culham in Oxfordshire.

Read more: Welcome to Culham: Inside the weird village home to the UK’s first-ever AI growth zone

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