Nebius, an AI cloud company, has entered into an agreement to lease high-density capacity at Vantage Data Centers’ CWL1 campus in Newport, Wales, as it expands its AI computing capacity across the UK. The deployment is the first announced commercial capacity commitment in the South Wales AI Growth Zone, and the infrastructure will support AI training, inference, agentic AI and enterprise workloads for businesses, researchers, startups and public sector organizations.
According to a press release, Vantage’s CWL1 campus has operated since 2010, and is one of Europe’s largest data center campuses. The company plans to deliver more than 1GW of AI-ready capacity across Newport, Bridgend, and Bro Tathan, as part of a multi-billion-pound investment in South Wales. The CWL1 campus’s electricity consumption is matched with 100 percent certified renewable energy. Its newer facilities use closed-loop cooling systems designed to reduce operational water consumption, alongside air-cooled chillers and free cooling when conditions allow.
Readers will recall that Nebius had announced plans to invest approximately £1.7 billion (US$ 2.3 billion) in new AI infrastructure by building three new facilities in the UK with a combined capacity of 65 MW by 2027. Its UK infrastructure plans use NVIDIA’s DSX AI factory reference design and are intended to support the UK government’s AI Opportunities Action Plan.
David Howson, President, EMEA, Vantage Data Centers, said, “This is an important milestone for South Wales and for the UK’s AI infrastructure ambitions, Nebius is scaling AI cloud infrastructure in the UK at a time when demand for domestic compute capacity continues to accelerate. Vantage’s Newport campus provides the scale, connectivity and operational excellence needed to support that growth, to help establish South Wales as a leading destination for AI investment.”
Gary Tierney, General Manager for EMEA, Nebius, said, “The UK is one of the places where AI is being built, deployed and adopted by startups, enterprises and the public sector, Vantage’s Newport campus gives us a strong foundation to expand access to NVIDIA-powered AI infrastructure in the UK and support customers building the next generation of AI applications.”
Meanwhile, UK AI Minister, Kanishka Narayan, expressed his optimism for Nebius and Vantages’s plan to enhance AI infrastructure and transform the UK into an AI hub with Government support by saying, “This government wants to put AI to work as a tool for renewing Britain, it is central to our mission to reindustrialise the country, drive good growth in every postcode and ensure our public services match-fit for the decades ahead, for the South Wales AI Growth Zone and demonstrates Wales’ growing reputation as a strategic location for the infrastructure that will power the AI economy.”
Adam Price, Welsh cabinet minister for enterprise, connectivity and energy, said, “Today’s announcement marks an important milestone for the South Wales AI Growth Zone and demonstrates Wales’ growing reputation as a strategic location for the infrastructure that will power the AI economy.” He continues,“Nebius and Vantage’s investment will help unlock new economic opportunities, support highly skilled jobs and reinforce Wales’ position as a leading destination for advanced digital investment, to maximise the benefits of this investment for businesses, communities and the wider Welsh economy.”
South Wales was designated an AI Growth Zone because of its digital infrastructure, fiber connectivity to London, high-capacity electricity grid and industrial base. The region also has the UK’s largest cluster of semiconductor businesses.