By Peter A Walker

Copyright insider

Irvine has been chosen as the location for a new artificial intelligence (AI) hub.

AI Pathfinder, a subsidiary of a London-based property development firm Salamanca, has stated that the investment could reach £15bn.

The business intends to build infrastructure for other companies to use, on the proposed i3 industrial park site, with an initial £385m set to be spent as building work begins next year.

AI Pathfinder, stated that this is “part of their ambition for the site to become one of the largest AI infrastructure hubs in Europe”, with the plans “expected to create substantial employment opportunities, both through the delivery of the site’s construction and in the diverse range of skilled roles that will support its long-term operation”.

The company is aiming to deliver up to 2GW of sovereign AI supercomputing capacity at its facilities in the UK, with the first deployment scheduled for December in Northamptonshire, following investment of up to £3.4bn.

The Irvine site should have up to 6,400 GPUs deployed during the initial phase, with the 1GW faciity having the potential to scale to 1.5GW.

North Ayrshire Council’s cabinet member for the green environment and economy Tony Gurney said the announcement could put the region at the vanguard of the AI revolution.

“We stand ready to become Scotland’s leading innovation and industrial investment region, delivering high-value AI at pace.

“Our vision for Ayrshire is to build wealth for everyone by creating opportunities for those who want to live, work, learn and invest in the region, these plans will assist in transforming that vision into reality.“

He explained that the plans align with the Ayrshire Regional Economic Strategy and £251m Ayrshire Growth Deal.

“The scale of this investment will be transformational for our young people and residents,“ Gurney stated. “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.“

Recent Ayrshire Growth Deal investment in the Digital Process Manufacturing Centre based in Irvine comes in addition to Department of Science Innovation and Technology funding the 5G Innovation Regions programme, which has seen a partnership with the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland, University of the West of Scotland and Ayrshire College to develop AI and data science capability.

“We work together and collaborate regionally in Ayrshire, with the common purpose of building an inclusive wellbeing economy founded on our pioneering Community Wealth Building approach, which sees us invest in our businesses and communities and we look forward to extending this partnership as the project progresses with AI Pathfinder,” Gurney concluded.

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