OpenAI has shelved plans to construct a massive data centre in Britain, called Stargate UK, with energy costs and regulatory issues cited as the reason.
The ChatGPT developer has been rolling out its global Stargate project in the past few years, a series of massive data centres in the US, Norway and the UAE that would provide various regions with the compute power needed to adopt AI at a large scale.
Plans for a UK-based Stargate location were announced last year as part of a flurry of investment announcements from US tech companies in the UK that followed a major deal agreed between the countries.
Stargate UK was said to be a major step in providing the country with the sovereign AI capabilities that have formed a core part of the government’s AI Opportunities Action Plan.
In a blow to government AI ambitions, OpenAI said it will put the project on hold while it waits for the “right conditions” for a “long-term infrastructure investment”.
A spokesperson for the company said: “We see huge potential for the UK’s AI future, and we support the government’s ambition to be an AI leader. We continue to explore Stargate UK.”
OpenAI has been facing significant financial issues in the first half of this year, with huge amounts of spending resulting in disappointing revenue, particularly considering its valuation of almost $1tn.
The company recently shut down its video generation app Sora, which was reportedly costing it $15m per day.
