North Lanarkshire is about to become one of the world’s hottest AI hubs after the UK government named it Britain’s first official AI Growth Zone, triggering a flood of private investment led by US giant CoreWeave and Scottish partner DataVita.
The £1.5bn project will create 800 direct high-paying AI jobs and over 3,400 total roles while building a gigantic 500MW specialist AI cloud that runs entirely on green Scottish power.
CoreWeave Lands in Scotland with Monster Datacentre Plan
CoreWeave, the Nvidia-backed company now valued at over $23bn after its latest funding round, has chosen Lanarkshire for its first major European AI cloud campus.
The American firm is teaming up with DataVita, Scotland’s largest datacentre operator, to build what will become one of Europe’s biggest AI supercomputing sites.
Construction is already underway at the former steelworks site near Ravenscraig, with the first Nvidia H100 and Blackwell GPUs expected to come online before the end of 2026.
By 2028 the site will deliver more than 500MW of dedicated power, enough to run hundreds of thousands of the latest AI accelerators simultaneously.
800 Direct AI Jobs and Thousands More in the Pipeline
The 800 permanent roles cover everything from AI researchers and machine learning engineers earning six figures to datacentre technicians, security teams and facility managers.
North Lanarkshire Council says average salaries for these specialist roles will top £75,000 a year, more than double the local average wage.
An additional 2,600 indirect jobs will come from construction, supply chain, energy infrastructure and support services over the next four years.
Danny Quinn, managing director of DataVita, told reporters: “We’re not just building servers. We’re building careers, communities and a whole new economy for Lanarkshire.”
Green Energy Gives Scotland the Winning Edge
Location was everything. Scotland beat competition from across Europe because it can deliver massive amounts of renewable power right next to the site.
The Lanarkshire micro-grid will combine wind, solar and battery storage with potential future Small Modular Reactors to guarantee 100% green energy 24/7.
CoreWeave’s chief strategy officer Brian Venturo said: “Power availability and sustainability were non-negotiable. Scotland checked both boxes better than anywhere else we looked in Europe.”
£543m Community Fund Will Transform Local Lives
Not a penny of the investment is coming from taxpayers. Yet local people will still see direct benefits through a groundbreaking £543m community fund spread over 15 years.
The money will pay for:
- New skills academies and apprenticeships in AI and datacentre operations
- Upgraded roads, public transport and broadband across North Lanarkshire
- Affordable housing projects near the new campus
- Grants for local startups working in AI, clean energy and advanced manufacturing
Kirsty McNeill, Scotland Office minister, said the growth zone “puts rocket boosters under the central Scotland economy while making sure working families feel the benefit straight away.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer added: “This is what levelling up actually looks like, bringing the industries of tomorrow to communities that powered Britain’s industrial past.”
The Lanarkshire announcement comes exactly one year after the government’s 50-point AI Opportunities Action Plan, and ministers say it proves the strategy is working faster than expected.
With CoreWeave’s UK beachhead now secured, industry sources say at least three more major AI players are in advanced talks to join the Lanarkshire cluster before summer 2026.
For a region that lost thousands of steel and coal jobs over decades, the arrival of the world’s most cutting-edge technology feels like winning the lottery twice.
Young people who once faced leaving Scotland to chase tech careers now talk about staying, buying homes and building families right here in Lanarkshire.
The future just arrived early in North Lanarkshire, and it’s running on pure Scottish green power.
What do you think, can Lanarkshire become Europe’s surprise AI capital? Drop your thoughts below and share this story with #LanarkshireAI if you’re excited for Scotland’s big tech glow-up!
