OpenAI's UK AI data centre project, dubbed "Stargate UK", appears to have been announced without on-site due diligence of key candidate locations. Questions are also growing over the credibility of the project after reports that the British government's widely promoted 30 billion pound investment plan was largely closer to an estimate than confirmed funding.

An online media outlet, Gigazine, reported on July 6 that the controversy emerged through disclosure materials released by the British government.

Stargate UK is the UK version of OpenAI's $500 billion U.S. AI data centre project "Stargate". In the United States, construction of large data centres is under way to expand AI infrastructure, but the UK project has been temporarily suspended since April as OpenAI reviews its infrastructure investment strategy.

Cobalt Park in North Tyneside in northeast England was designated an AI growth zone and was discussed as a candidate data centre site. But disclosure results showed that Nvidia was the only company that actually visited the site. OpenAI and its project partner Nscale had no confirmed records of a visit.

Locally, there was also testimony that the project announcement itself was made hastily without prior coordination. One official claimed that Nscale received a unilateral request from the government to "support Stargate UK" and that the announcement came first while the business plan lacked realism. The official also said the burden fell on OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman (샘 알트먼) after the project was halted.

Local politicians voiced a similar reaction. John Johnson (존 존슨), the Conservative Party leader in North Tyneside, said the announcement came suddenly with no explanation of the plan and pointed out that there was no prior consultation even on the key candidate site.

Questions were also raised over the size of the investment. The British government announced that about 30 billion pounds of investment would be made in the AI growth zone, but 10 billion pounds of that was reported to include the scale of a separate data centre project being pursued by asset manager Blackstone. The remaining 20 billion pounds was reported to be an estimate reflecting the possibility of attracting future private investment, rather than a confirmed investment amount.

The government did not disclose a detailed basis for its calculation. It was reported, however, that in response to an inquiry by the anti-corruption watchdog Spotlight on Corruption, it presented a calculation that about 20 billion pounds would be needed to build 1.1 gigawatts of AI computing infrastructure. That has prompted criticism that required funding was presented as if it were an actual investment figure.

The situation contrasts with the U.S. Stargate project. In the United States, SoftBank has already invested the $10 billion it promised and plans to inject another $10 billion in October. In Britain, the core of the controversy is that a large-scale investment announcement came first even as review of key candidate sites, consultations with local communities and investment plans all remained uncertain.

The industry has also offered an assessment that Stargate UK has moved beyond a simple schedule delay to a stage where the business structure itself needs to be reviewed again. Attention is focusing on whether OpenAI's global AI infrastructure expansion strategy can translate into actual investment and data centre construction in Britain.