The UK's first AI Growth Zone, based at Culham in Oxfordshire, announced by the Prime Minister in January 2025 as part of the AI Opportunities Action Plan. Government describes AI Growth Zones as hubs for AI-enabled data centres with improved access to power and planning support.
Investment
- Stated investment
- Not published
- Lead organisations
- Not published
- Announced
- 13 January 2025
- Target live
- Not published
Power and grid
- Published capacity
- Not published
- Power notes
- Not published
- Grid connection
- Not published
- Cooling and water
- Not published
Planning
- Planning authority
- Not published
- Planning reference
- Not published
- Current status
- Approved
- Floor area
- Not published
Evidence quality
- Confidence
- High confidence
- AI relevance
- High — AI/compute led
- Verified
- Yes
- Last updated
- 10 August 2026
Progress
Announced · 13 January 2025
Zone announced by government
Investors and local authorities gear up as AI Growth Zone delivery gathers speed
Key facts as published
- Designation
- First UK AI Growth Zone
- Government support
- £5 million per AI Growth Zone for local business adoption and skills
Sources
- Investors and local authorities gear up as AI Growth Zone delivery gathers speed — DSIT (GOV.UK), 30 April 2025
- AI Growth Zones (collection) — DSIT (GOV.UK), 13 November 2025
Where this connects
- Tracker entry for Culham AI Growth Zone — the same record inside the UK data-centre tracker.
- All tracked projects in South East
- UK AI Energy Index — the indicators we track for AI-driven electricity demand.
- AI growth zone impact calculator — model the electricity implications of a zone of a given size.