London, UK, 23 April 2026 \u2013 BT and Nscale have today announced plans to deliver sovereign AI data centres in the UK, using NVIDIA full stack AI infrastructure. The move will expand the UK\u2019s AI capability using trusted nationwide networks \u2013 enabling organisations to adopt AI securely, at scale, and under UK control.<\/p>\n
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Nscale plans to build up to 14 megawatts of AI data centre infrastructure across three existing strategic BT sites in the UK. BT will provide infrastructure and connectivity to these new data centres, which will significantly expand the UK\u2019s AI compute capacity in response to surging demand. <\/p>\n
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The development extends BT Business\u2019 sovereign platform<\/a> to provide new AI services for the private and public sector. Organisations using BT\u2019s sovereign AI capability will be able to:<\/p>\n \u200d<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Run AI models in the UK, supporting regulatory, data residency and security requirements<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Scale AI capacity on demand, without upfront capital investment in infrastructure<\/p>\n \u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Adopt advanced AI technologies, while maintaining operational resilience and control<\/p>\n \u200d<\/p>\n This will support a wide range of use cases, from AI-powered analysis of sensitive data in healthcare and research, to enabling AI in public services and critical industries such as energy, finance and security.<\/p>\n \u200d<\/p>\n Sovereignty plays a critical role in the UK Government\u2019s AI Opportunities Action Plan<\/a>, a strategy to boost economic growth through AI and data centre investment while ensuring national resilience and control.\u00a0NVIDIA, Nscale and BT are also among the founding members of the \u2018UK Sovereign AI Industry Forum<\/a>\u2019, a coalition of leading British businesses working with the government to strengthen the UK\u2019s sovereign AI infrastructure, skills capacity and startup ecosystem. <\/p>\n \u200d<\/p>\n AI Minister Kanishka Narayan said: \u201cTo unlock the full benefits of AI, Britain needs more of the infrastructure that powers it. This investment in new AI data centres will give businesses and public services the tools they need to use AI at scale here in the UK. Building more of this on British shores strengthens our position in a highly competitive global market, supports high value jobs, and ensures Britain can work with the best technologies in the world while growing our own capability at home.\u201d<\/p>\n \u200d<\/p>\n Jon James, CEO, BT Business, said: \u201cThe development of AI and data centre infrastructure is key to unlocking economic growth in the UK, and is only possible with the best, most trusted networks at the foundation. Digital sovereignty enables UK organisations to adopt the world\u2019s leading technologies, while maintaining resilience and control in a rapidly changing world. Our collaboration with Nscale reflects BT\u2019s unique position as the digital backbone of the UK \u2013 the only provider with the scale, capabilities and experience to enable the nation\u2019s sovereign ambitions.\u201d<\/p>\n \u200d<\/p>\n Tom Burke, Chief Revenue Officer, Nscale, said: \u201cPartnering with BT is a major milestone in supporting the UK\u2019s AI ambitions and its position in the global AI economy. Telecommunications have a critical role to play in this shift \u2013 you can\u2019t deliver AI at scale without resilient, high-capacity networks as the backbone. Together, BT\u2019s nationwide digital infrastructure and Nscale\u2019s modular, NVIDIA-powered AI data centre deployment will give organisations access to world-class compute, with the assurance that their data and operations can stay local.\u201d <\/p>\n \u200d<\/p>\n Anthony Hills, Director UKI, NVIDIA, said: \u201cTelecommunications is at the core of sovereign AI, because secure, high-capacity networks are essential to unlocking the UK\u2019s accelerated computing potential. By combining BT\u2019s trusted nationwide infrastructure with Nscale\u2019s AI data centres powered by NVIDIA, this collaboration expands access to sovereign compute under UK control, enabling telcos and their customers to innovate with AI while keeping sensitive data and operations in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n About Nscale<\/p>\n \u200d<\/p>\n Nscale is the global hyperscaler engineered for enterprise-grade AI infrastructure, delivering compute to the generative AImarket at scale. Through its fully vertically integrated suite of AI solutions and GW+ greenfield data centers across the globe, Nscale enables customers torun efficient and scalable AI training, fine-tuning, and inferencing workloads.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Media contact:\u00a0press@nscale.com<\/a><\/p>\n \u200d<\/p>\n