North East England AI Growth Zone (Cobalt Park & Blyth)
Blackstone (via QTS) at Blyth; Stargate UK (OpenAI, Nvidia, Nscale) at Cobalt Park
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.
Key facts
- Operator / developer
- Blackstone (via QTS) at Blyth; Stargate UK (OpenAI, Nvidia, Nscale) at Cobalt Park
- Location
- Wallsend & Blyth, North East, United Kingdom
- Status
- Approved
- Facility type
- AI growth zone
- AI relevance
- High — AI/compute led
- Announced
- 16 September 2025
- Stated investment
- £30,000,000,000
- 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
Power & grid
- Published capacity
- 1,100 MW — Reported capacity, definition not publishedA megawatt figure was reported but the source does not define what it measures, so it is excluded from every total.
- Power
- 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.
Benefits vs drawbacks
Benefits
£5m of government funding for local AI adoption and skills; North East Combined Authority prospectus covers skills, adoption, innovation and infrastructure.
Timeline
Sources
- US-UK pact will boost advances in drug discovery, create tens of thousands of jobs and transform lives
Secondary source · DSIT / Prime Minister's Office (GOV.UK) · 16 September 2025
- US-UK tech deal agreed as AI Growth Zone announced for north east of England
Secondary source · DatacenterDynamics · 18 September 2025
- North East England set for billions in investment and thousands of jobs through new AI Growth Zone
Secondary source · UK Government / North East Combined Authority · 18 September 2025
- OpenAI puts Stargate UK on ice over energy cost, regulations
Secondary source · The Register · 9 April 2026
- AI Growth Zones yet to accelerate planning activity, FOI data suggests
Secondary source · Data Centre Review · 20 August 2026
- Strategic Planning Committee report, application 24/04112/OUTES, Land at former power station site, Cambois
Secondary source · Northumberland County Council · 2025-03-04
- AI Growth Zone
Secondary source · North East Combined Authority
Last verified
23 September 2026
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