Schneider Electric, the leader in digital transformation of energy management and automation, has hosted its first Partnering for AI-Ready Data Centres event in London against the backdrop of the UK igniting the global AI race with a wave of landmark announcements.
During the same week, the UK unveiled Stargate UK, OpenAI’s new supercomputer in Loughton, while NVIDIA confirmed its biggest GPU rollout in Europe. CoreWeave pledged a major UK expansionand the UK-US Tech Prosperity Deal unlocked a record £31 billion of investment. This includes Microsoft’s £22 billion AI build-out, Google’s £5 billion UK data centre and the launch of a North EastAI Growth Zone (AIGZ) set to create more than 5,000 jobs – cementing the UK’s desire to be at the forefront of global AI innovation.
Schneider Electric’s Partnering for AI-Ready Data Centres event brought together senior leaders from across the AI ecosystem to examine the challenges and opportunities shaping the future of AI-ready infrastructure. Discussions spanned the workforce skills gap, the demand for renewable energy and sovereign data centre capacity, and the innovations in power and cooling needed to support next-generation AI workloads sustainably.
Speakers included: Anthony Hills, Regional Sales Leader, NVIDIA UK&I; Tom Gibbons, UK Sales Director, Unstructured Data Solutions, Dell Technologies; Mark Bjornsgaard, CEO & Founder, Deep Green; Matt Quirk, Global Sales GM, Supermicro; Andy Davis, Director, DataX Connect; and Catriona Shearer, Global Head of Data Centre Consulting, JLL. As well as senior leaders from Schneider Electric Andrew Whitmore, SVP Global Sales, Motivair by Schneider Electric, Pablo Ruiz Escribano, SVP Secure Power & Data Centre Business, Europe, Mark Yeeles, VP Secure Power UK&I, Jim Simonelli, SVP & CTO, Secure Power and David Terry, AI Enterprise & Alliance Partner Sales Director, EMEA.
“With AI now defining the next chapter of the UK’s digital economy, the recent announcements underline the scale of the AI opportunity before us. But seizing it will take collaboration across the ecosystem with technology providers, operators, investors, government and academia coming together to ensure the infrastructure we build is both sustainable and resilient. Our event was about bringing those voices together to share strategies and solutions that will allow the UK to become an AI-maker,” said Mark Yeeles, Vice President, Secure Power UK&I, Schneider Electric.
“The UK can be at the forefront of the next industrial revolution, but to achieve it, it must harness the power of AI,” said Anthony Hills, Director, Enterprise Business, NVIDIA, UK&I. “Last week NVIDIA announced we have committed £2 billion to catalyse the U.K.’s AI startup ecosystem, and by partnering with the UK’s AI leaders, we will accelerate the creation of new companies, jobs and globally transformative AI businesses.”
“Generative AI is having a profound impact on businesses globally, and by applying AI to their most impactful processes, UK businesses have a significant opportunity to fuel innovation and growth,” said Tom Gibbons, UK Sales Director, Unstructured Data Solutions for Dell Technologies.
“The Partnering for AI event showed that the UK has a pivotal opportunity to lead in AI, and success will depend on continued technological innovation, next-generation talent, and sustainable infrastructure,” said Matt Quirk, General Manager, EMEA Business Development, Supermicro. “Collaboration must now turn into action to future-proof data centres as critical infrastructure for AI-driven growth, and at Supermicro we are excited to help shape what’s next.”
“The time has come for the UK to invest in sovereign, sustainable infrastructure, and by doubling down on collaboration, the country has the chance to lead the European AI revolution,” said Matt Hawkins, CEO at CUDO Compute. “I’m glad to attend the Partnering for AI Event on behalf of CUDO, and to be part of an AI ecosystem catalysing growth across so many industries.”
By convening leaders across technology, energy and infrastructure, the event reinforced Schneider Electric’s commitment to enabling sustainable growth through advanced power systems, modular data centre solutions, and liquid cooling innovations – ensuring the UK remains at the forefront of AI and digital transformation.
