![\"AI](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/AI-data-centre-e1775144726181.jpg\")
\t\tGlobal data centre capacity reached 84GW in 2025\t<\/p>\n\t\t\tWednesday 01 July 2026 5:21 am
\n\t\t\t\t\t\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Updated:\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\t\tTuesday 30 June 2026 12:36 pm\n\t<\/p>\n
\t\tGlobal data centre capacity reached 84GW in 2025\t<\/p>\n
The AI era will reward the small number of countries that can adapt and build quickly enough and it will punish those that can\u2019t, says Sam Richards<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, in our country,\u201d said Alice, still panting a little, \u201cyou\u2019d generally get to somewhere else \u2013 if you ran very fast for a long time, as we\u2019ve been doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA slow sort of country!\u201d said the Queen. \u201cNow, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!\u201d<\/p>\n
Lewis Carroll\u2019s Through the Looking Glass<\/p>\n
For most of my life, Britain has assumed we live in Alice\u2019s world. No need to rush. Our prosperity and security, accumulated over centuries, could simply be maintained by a gentle jog. Growth could be a bit slower. Infrastructure could take a bit longer. Planning rules could become a bit more cumbersome. We muddle through.<\/p>\n
If ever that were true, that assumption belongs to a previous age. We are in the Red Queen\u2019s world now. AI is an accelerant. It is already speeding up scientific discovery, software development, research, logistics and innovation. A problem that occupied generations of biologists \u2013 predicting the structure of proteins \u2013 can now be solved in hours rather than years using AI systems. Software engineers increasingly rely on AI tools to generate code, identify bugs and automate routine tasks that once consumed hours of work.<\/p>\n
From drone warfare to spreadsheets; the world will soon be running at a new speed. AI will reward the small number of countries that can adapt to the new pace and it will punish those that cannot.<\/p>\n
We are entering the most important technological upheaval since the Industrial Revolution, an invigorating and terrifying period of acceleration, at precisely the moment Britain has become exceptionally slow at just about everything<\/p>\n
That should inject all of us with a squirt of panic. We are entering the most important technological upheaval since the Industrial Revolution, an invigorating and terrifying period of acceleration, at precisely the moment Britain has become exceptionally slow at just about everything.<\/p>\n
AI requires vast amounts of computing power, \u201ccompute\u201d. It is quite possibly the single most important resource of the century. Compute requires data centres. Data centres require electricity. Electricity requires power stations, transmission lines and grid capacity. Almost every part of that chain is constrained by our planning system. It has been over 30 years since we last built a new nuclear power station. The one we are currently building is set to be again delayed because regulators have deemed the \u00a3700m spent on fish protection insufficient.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/p>\n
\t\t\tThe Debate: Should we build a data centre on Brick Lane?<\/a><\/p>\n We have somehow convinced ourselves that growth happens independently of physical infrastructure; that you can have a thriving economy without building anything.<\/p>\n Compute is crucial<\/p>\n But the AI economy will be built somewhere, and the stakes on who hosts it, and who therefore captures the growth are much higher than many realise. We\u2019re all too familiar with the consequences of our failure to grow over the last two decades. A weekly shop that takes up ever more of the budget, energy bills that only seem to go up, desperate calls to the GP at 8am to get one of the few available appointments. No growth means every debate has become zero sum; a fight between different groups for their slice of a diminishing pie.<\/p>\n