The UK needs to deploy "at least" 6GW of AI-capable data centre capacity by 2030 to remain competitive, a threefold increase in today's capacity, a government report has concluded.

The government has committed up to £2bn for AI infrastructure between now and 2030, but more needs to be done to avoid the country being “left behind” in this field, according to the UK Compute Roadmap report from The Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT) and government funding body UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

The UK’s data centre market is also not optimised for AI, it adds, with most existing facilities geared toward general-purpose enterprise computing and lacking the density, energy integration and technical design for high-intensity AI workloads.

The report says that without urgent action, the UK risks being “over-reliant on foreign infrastructure and missing the opportunity to embed AI capability into our economy and to anchor the next generation of AI companies here at home”.

It adds: “That is why now is the time to build. Infrastructure of this scale takes years to plan and deliver, requiring access to land and power, grid upgrades and access to large amounts of capital. By moving decisively, the UK can establish itself as a leading location for AI infrastructure, attracting investment, supporting innovation and building clusters of high-value activity.”

As well as identifying the main challenges facing the sector, the roadmap sets out the government’s vision to “build a world-class compute ecosystem” and its plan to put the required infrastructure in place.

Central to this is the need for computing infrastructure that is fit for purpose, not just for today’s needs, but for the scale, speed and opportunities of the AI-enabled economy of the future, the report says.

Labour has already started identifying sites for and creating AI Growth Zones across the UK, building on a reported £44bn of private sector investment in data centres over the past 12 months.

Each of these sites should have at least 500MW capacity, “with at least one AI Growth Zone scaling to more than 1GW by 2030,” the paper said.

Peter Kyle, secretary of state for science, innovation and technology, said: “Artificial intelligence is reshaping the world around us – transforming the way we innovate, work, and solve some of the greatest challenges of our time.

“From accelerating the development of new medicines to supporting more efficient public services, the potential of AI to drive economic growth, improve lives, and secure our national resilience is vast.

“But realising that potential depends on the infrastructure we build to support it. This roadmap sets out how the UK will rise to that challenge. It is a bold, long-term plan to transform our national compute ecosystem.”

Last week, housing secretary Angela Rayner stepped in to approve Greystoke Land and Altrad UK’s twice-rejected plans for a data centre on green-belt land at Iver in Buckinghamshire.

The West London Technology Park project was the third data centre approved after being calling by the housing secretary since Labour took office a year ago.