One of Europe’s biggest AI infrastructure hubs has been promised for the west of Scotland by a UK-based AI firm.
AI Pathfinder is pledging an initial £385m and a long-term commitment of £15 billion to develop a facility in North Ayrshire.
It was set up two years ago as a subsidiary of Salamanca, a London-based property development company led by entrepreneur Martin Bellamy, who is chairman and chief executive.
To date Salamanca has secured £14bn in international investment for the UK. Gravity, its flagship investment is home to Agratas – the UK’s largest gigafactory development. It also played a central in role in securing the decision to re-imagine the former Britishvolt site into what is set to become the UK’s largest AI data centre campus.
In a statement the company said the site near Irvine will scale into one of the largest AI infrastructure hubs in Europe.
Martin Bellamy, chairman of AI Pathfinder, said: “We’ve been tracking the inflection point where slow or non-adoption of AI becomes an existential risk for government, the private sector, and public services – and that point is now in sight. Sovereign capability is becoming not just strategic, but essential.
“Our UK-based AI-as-a-Service platform will allow government, businesses, and public services
to innovate at the speed of hyperscalers, with the security and data privacy of a sovereign
solution.
“AI Pathfinder’s mission to provide the infrastructure to deliver sovereign AI-as-aService is a critical part of ensuring the UK is at the forefront of the AIpowered global economy.”
AI Pathfinder says its investment will create “substantial employment opportunities”, both through the delivery of the site’s construction and in the range of skilled roles that will support its long-term operation.
The council said that the plans align with the ambitions of its own Ayrshire Regional Economic Strategy and with the £251 million Ayrshire Growth Deal, while the region is also acting as a testbed for next-gen communications through the UK Government-funded 5G Innovation Regions programme.
“We stand ready to become Scotland’s leading innovation and industrial investment region, delivering high-value AI at pace,” said Councillor Tony Gurney, cabinet member for green environment and economy
“The scale of this investment will be transformational for our young people and residents. It offers the chance to establish a local skills pipeline across construction, engineering, digital infrastructure, and data centre operations and will deliver major supply chain benefits which will ripple across Ayrshire businesses and beyond.”
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