Blyth and Cobalt Park Named as North East AI Growth Zone
The government says the zone will unlock more than 5,000 jobs and £30bn of investment, including a Stargate UK site at Cobalt Park.
- Blyth in Northumberland and Cobalt Park in North Tyneside will form the AI Growth Zone.
- Blackstone has committed £10bn to a data centre at Blyth.
- Teesworks in Redcar was not included.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has announced that Blyth in Northumberland and Cobalt Park in North Tyneside will become an AI Growth Zone.
The government says the zone will unlock more than 5,000 new jobs and bring in £30bn of investment, describing the North East as a future “AI powerhouse”.
Two sites
The Blyth data centre had already been announced and has a £10bn financial commitment from US investment firm Blackstone.
Cobalt Park will host part of Stargate UK, a partnership between OpenAI, Nvidia and Nscale to deploy OpenAI’s technology in the UK and develop “sovereign” AI capability. In the first phase, OpenAI will use 8,000 Nvidia graphics processing units, and Cobalt Park will be one of several UK sites.
Teesside left out
Teesworks in Redcar was not part of the announcement, despite Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen previously saying the government had committed to giving the site the same status.
