AI Energy Intelligence UK
Independent research
All AI Growth Zones

North East England AI Growth Zone (Cobalt Park & Blyth)

Wallsend & Blyth, North East Verified against published sources

UK's second AI Growth Zone, announced in September 2025 alongside the UK-US Tech Prosperity Deal, anchored at Cobalt Park (North Tyneside) and Blyth (Northumberland). Stargate UK -- a joint venture between OpenAI, Nvidia and British firm Nscale -- will deploy sovereign AI compute at Cobalt Park, starting with 8,000 GPUs scaling to 31,000. Blackstone has committed GBP 10bn to the Blyth site via its QTS subsidiary, with the AI Growth Zone designation creating headroom for a further GBP 20bn from other partners. In April 2026 OpenAI paused Stargate UK, citing energy costs and regulation; it says it will proceed when conditions allow.

Investment

Stated investment
£30bn
Lead organisations
Blackstone (via QTS) at Blyth; Stargate UK (OpenAI, Nvidia, Nscale) at Cobalt Park
Announced
16 September 2025
Target live
Not published

Power and grid

Published capacity
1,100 MW
Power notes
Combined energy capacity target of 1.1GW within six years across the zone. Cobalt Park hosts the existing Stellium colocation campus (currently up to 80MW, scaling toward 180MW); Blyth hosts a new Blackstone/QTS hyperscale build.
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
8 October 2026

AI use

Tenant or end user
Stargate UK (OpenAI, Nvidia, Nscale) at Cobalt Park, paused April 2026; QTS (Blackstone) at Blyth
AI compute
Stargate UK planned up to 8,000 Nvidia GPUs at first, scaling to about 31,000, at Nscale capacity in Cobalt Park. OpenAI paused it on 9 Apr 2026.

Benefits vs drawbacks

Benefits

  • More than 5,000 jobs expected across the region (government estimate)Source
  • Blackstone/QTS committed £10bn to the consented Cambois campus at BlythSource
  • Planning momentum: 10 relevant permissions in 2025 across Blyth and Cobalt Park (FOI)Source

Drawbacks

  • OpenAI paused Stargate UK in April 2026, citing energy costs and regulationSource
  • Many permissions predate the designation, so the zone's own effect is unclearSource
  • Cambois alone plans 580 diesel standby generators and about 184,000 tCO2e a yearSource

Member projects

Timeline

  1. North East England (Cobalt Park and Blyth) named an AI Growth Zone alongside the UK-US Tech Prosperity Deal.

    Source

  2. OpenAI paused Stargate UK, citing energy costs and regulation.

    Source

Progress

  1. Announced · 16 September 2025

    Zone announced by government

    US-UK pact will boost advances in drug discovery, create tens of thousands of jobs and transform lives

  2. designation · 18 September 2025

    Designated AI Growth Zone; Stargate UK launch announced

    North East England named UK's second AI Growth Zone, anchored at Cobalt Park and Blyth. OpenAI, Nvidia and Nscale announced Stargate UK sovereign compute platform at Cobalt Park.

    US-UK tech deal agreed as AI Growth Zone announced for north east of England

Key facts as published

Jobs
More than 5,000 (government estimate)
Stargate UK
OpenAI/Nvidia/Nscale sovereign AI compute deployment at Cobalt Park, phase one up to 8,000 GPUs, scaling to ~31,000
Blyth investment
GBP 10bn committed by Blackstone via QTS, with GBP 20bn further potential
Wider package
£31 billion of US tech investment announced across UK AI infrastructure

Sources

Where this connects