Focusing on data centres with Kao Data

Data centres are strategic infrastructure for the UK’s economic growth, energy transition and future sovereign AI capabilities.

• Since 2020, Kao Data has expanded from a one-data-centre business into a multi-site UK platform with L&G’s support.
• The UK remains Europe’s leading data-centre market, but the industry must improve public understanding and address scepticism surrounding AI and its infrastructure.
• Locating data centres near remote renewable-energy projects could help consume green electricity that cannot always be transported efficiently to population centres.
• Demand over the next five to 10 years could reach 10 GW, equivalent to 20 data centres of 500 MW each and requiring £150 billion of construction and investment.
• Slough, the largest data-centre market outside the US, has around 32 facilities employing 14,000 people, illustrating the skilled and long-term employment potential of a wider national build-out.

Takeaway: Investors should view UK data centres as a growing digital-infrastructure opportunity with economic, employment and energy-system benefits, although the estimates remain assumptions and forecasts rather than guarantees.