Qatar Investment Authority, through its artificial intelligence arm Qai, and Brookfield Asset Management are investing £2.5 billion, about $3.4 billion, to develop a data center at the site of the Drax power station in northern England.
The project will use Drax’s existing grid connection, allowing the partners to avoid the lengthy queue facing many new data center developments in the UK. The first phase is expected to be operational in the first quarter of 2028, with up to 100 megawatts of existing grid capacity.
Later phases could draw on the full 2.6 gigawatts of output from the power station. Brookfield estimates that total long-term investment could exceed £20 billion when processing units and chips are included.
The investment builds on a partnership established at the end of 2025, when Qai and Brookfield committed $20 billion to artificial intelligence infrastructure in Qatar and selected global markets.
According to a Bloomberg analysis cited in the announcement, the project still faces potential challenges, including whether the existing grid connection can support operations, as well as regulatory and community issues that could affect its timeline.
Source: Jawlah
