Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI
An investigation by the British newspaper “The Guardian” revealed that a significant portion of the promised investments had not been confirmed, and that OpenAI representatives likely had not even visited one of the key sites for the future data center.
The scale of the project has been called into question
The Stargate UK project was unveiled in 2025 as a symbol of the technological partnership between the UK and the US. The British government claimed that the initiative could attract up to £30 billion in investments to develop computing infrastructure for artificial intelligence.
However, a Guardian investigation based on documents obtained through Freedom of Information requests reveals that approximately £20 billion of the announced total consisted only of potential investments, not backed by concrete financial commitments.
Furthermore, according to the publication, OpenAI had not visited one of the project’s key sites in North Tyneside prior to its official presentation.
“£20 billion of the potential £30 billion in investments announced by the UK government appear to have been purely hypothetical,” notes The Guardian.
Stargate had already been put on hold
Back in April, OpenAI announced it was suspending its participation in Stargate UK, citing high electricity costs and regulatory uncertainty in the UK as the reasons for the decision.
Despite this, the company stated that it was maintaining its plans to develop a research center and expand its presence in London.
However, according to The Guardian, local authorities also lacked information about the project’s full-scale preparation, and the necessary energy infrastructure for building the data center was absent.
“The Illusion of Billions” and Market Reality
The story of Stargate UK goes far beyond a single investment project, notes the British publication. It highlights the growing risks associated with grandiose announcements about building infrastructure for artificial intelligence, where the announced figures far outpace actual investment decisions.
For European countries hoping to attract projects from global technology companies, key factors remain the availability of electricity, the speed of connection to power grids, the regulatory environment, and the presence of existing infrastructure.
It is precisely these conditions that are decisive for the implementation of capital-intensive AI projects. And the fierce competition among the world’s leading countries for artificial intelligence projects and to secure their location on their own territory often leads to a disconnect between aspirations and market realities, notes The Guardian.
