AIUpdated 4h ago

UK may reject data center projects without local benefits.

Britain wants more data-center capacity for AI, but Healey is drawing a line around how that growth happens. In the US, data-center expansion has sparked public anger over the electricity and water the facilities use. A new government covenant aims to ensure the communities hosting projects benefit from them and to lower electricity costs. Healey says he is willing to reject projects that offer no local benefit. At the same time, the government is aiming for 6 GW of AI data-center capacity by 2030, arguing that domestic infrastructure matters to national resilience. The pitch is more capacity, with something in it for the places asked to host it.

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