The Scottish county of Lanarkshire has been named as the latest AI Growth Zone by the government, which has unveiled plans to create thousands of jobs and bring in billions in investments to the region.
AI Growth Zones are areas designated for special support to advance the wider UK AI industry, including expedited planning processes for relevant infrastructure.
Joining previously announced zones in Oxfordshire, North Wales, South Wales and the North East of England, Lanarkshire in the Central Lowlands of Scotland will become a key region for the government’s AI growth plans.
The Lanarkshire AI Growth Zone will be centred around DataVita’s data centre site in the town of Airdrie and will be delivered in partnership with the US AI cloud firm CoreWeave.
“By bringing billions of pounds of investment into Lanarkshire, we are creating good, wellpaid jobs and funding support that directly helps families with the cost of living,” said Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
“With strong progress made on our AI Opportunities Action Plan over the past year, now is the time to put our foot on the accelerator and ensure working people feel the benefits in every corner of the UK.”
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) said the zone will bring more than 3,400 jobs including hundreds of high-paying AI researching and coding roles.
The government has also announced £8.2bn of private investment has been committed to the local area as well as a £543m community fund to support local programmes over the next 15 years.
“Today’s announcement is about creating good jobs, backing innovation and making sure the benefits AI will bring can be felt across the community – that’s how the UK government is delivering real change for the people of Scotland,” said Tech Secretary Liz Kendall
“From thousands of new jobs and billions in investment through to support for local people and their families, AI Growth Zones are bringing generation-defining opportunity to all corners of the country.”
