London, UK – 27 August 2025 –  A new whitepaper published by The Tech Capital, Parisi Consulting, Sapio Research and AVK, following a House of Lords roundtable, warns that the UK must address urgent challenges in energy, planning and workforce skills to realise its ambitions for AI leadership.

The report, Current State and Future Opportunities: Data Centre Industry and Government Engagement, outlines how data centres have shifted from relative obscurity to a core pillar of national strategy, following their designation in 2024 as Critical National Infrastructure.

While government policy has accelerated, including reforms to planning frameworks and commitments to renewable and nuclear power, the industry continues to face significant obstacles. Grid connection delays, high energy costs, and shortages of skilled labour risk undermining progress towards scaling AI infrastructure.

Jack Haddon, Editor of The Tech Capital, said: “Historically operating with limited public visibility, the UK data centre industry now finds itself thrust into the spotlight. The rapid scaling required to support the country’s ambitious, though still loosely defined, AI objectives has elevated data centres from peripheral infrastructure to a central pillar of national digital policy.”

Ben Pritchard, CEO of AVK, added: “As the scale, speed, and reliability needed for AI workloads grow, data centres must move from being passive users of power to active partners in delivering a cleaner, steadier grid. Our aim is to change how the data industry connects to and uses energy – so it can grow the economy, steady the grid, meet net carbon targets, and bring lasting value to local communities.”

Shivani Lodhia, Founding Partner at Parisi Consulting, said: “The question is no longer whether the sector should engage with policymakers, but how best to do so. That is why we were honoured to cohost this event, and why we have collaborated on this whitepaper: to help the sector think together, rather than talk past one another, and to capture what meaningful, constructive engagement looks like in the digital age.”

The whitepaper concludes that delivering sovereign AI capacity and strengthening the UK’s digital economy will require a coordinated approach that integrates energy reform, planning clarity, and a dedicated workforce strategy.

To read the full document, please visit HERE.

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