By Stephen Bark
Copyright dailyrecord
Up to £15 billion could be invested in Ayrshire by an AI company. AI Pathfinder have announced plans to locate 2GW of AI supercomputing capacity at their UK factories which will include a facility at i3 in Irvine . The move has been praised by Central Ayrshire MP Alan Gemmell who said the investment was a “vote of confidence” in the Ayrshire economy. As part of its long-term vision, AI Pathfinder plans to invest £15bn at i3 in Irvine, North Ayrshire, beginning with an initial investment from next year. The company will launch its first UK deployment in December in Northamptonshire. Included in the first phase of the Northamptonshire installation is the Dell AI Factory with NVIDIA, a comprehensive and secure AI solution, able to handle complex workloads across the healthcare and advanced logistics sector. The Irvine site is set to have an initial capacity of 1GW allowing AI Pathfinder to create one of the largest AI infrastructure hubs in Europe, with the future potential to expand to 1.5GW. 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-a-Service is a critical part of ensuring the UK is at the forefront of the AI powered global economy.” Alan Gemmell MP for Central Ayrshire said: “Martin Bellamy and AI Pathfinder’s announcement that they plan to invest hundreds of millions of pounds in AI infrastructure at Irvine’s i3 site is a vote of confidence in this Labour Government’s focus on AI and a vote of confidence in the Ayrshire economy. “I’m delighted to have worked with Martin for the last nine months to help secure their commitment to Irvine and bring this brilliant British business to my hometown. “AI Pathfinder’s investment has the potential to create thousands of jobs in the construction phase alone. In the long-term their ambition to turn i3 into one of the largest AI infrastructure hubs in Europe would mean the largest private sector investment in the West of Scotland. “Investment of this scale, putting Irvine and Ayrshire at the front of the UK’s AI ambitions, is only possible with this Labour government and four Labour MPs in Ayrshire.” Secretary of State for Scotland Douglas Alexander MP, said: “Alan Gemmell and all of Ayrshire’s local Labour MPs are working tirelessly to attract inward investment and jobs into their region and I applaud their efforts. “AI and tech are at the heart of our plans to grow Scotland and the UK’s economy. “These transformative technologies have the potential to revolutionise industries from healthcare to financial services, creating high-skilled jobs and positioning Scotland at the global forefront of AI.” Don’t miss the latest Ayrshire headlines – sign up to our free daily newsletter
