Deal comes after collapse of plan for battery factory in Northumberland last year

American private investment giant Blackstone has announced a 拢10bn plan to create a large artificial intelligence data centre in the North-east.

The new facility will be built in Blyth, Northumberland, where plans had previously been in place for a 拢300m battery gigafactory to be built by ISG.

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Source: Number 10/Flickr

The deal was announced by the prime minister who was in New York for a UN meeting

However, the client on that scheme, Britishvolt, went into administration at the beginning of 2023.

The fresh investment into Blyth was announced by British prime minister Keir Starmer in New York yesterday.

According to the government, the scheme will create more than 4,000 jobs, including 1,200 roles dedicated to building the site.

Blackstone said it would invest 拢110m into a fund supporting skills training and transport infrastructure in the area.

Starmer said: 鈥漈he number one mission of my government is to grow our economy, so that hard-working British people reap the benefits 鈥 and more foreign investment is a crucial part of that plan.

鈥淣ew investment such as the one we鈥檝e announced with Blackstone today is a huge vote of confidence in the UK and it proves that Britain is back as a major player on the global stage and we鈥檙e open for business.鈥

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Jon Gray, president and chief operating officer of Blackstone, said: 鈥淭he UK is a top investment market for Blackstone because of its powerful combination of talent and innovation along with a highly transparent legal system.  

鈥淲e are making significant commitments to building social housing, facilitating the energy transition, growing life sciences companies and developing critical infrastructure needed to fuel the digital economy. 

鈥淭his includes a projected 拢10 billion investment to build one of Europe鈥檚 largest hyperscale data centres supporting 4,000 jobs. Blackstone is committed to Britain.鈥

Construction is set to begin next year.