Central to fulfilling these roles is the robustness of the UK's core network infrastructure, which links subsea landing stations to its growing data centre ecosystem. Continued investment in this infrastructure is essential to support the nation's ambitious goals.
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The UK’s role as a connectivity landing point
The UK’s geographical location has long made it a natural stopping point for transatlantic subsea cables connecting the US to Europe. Investment in subsea cable systems is growing, driven by the explosion in data usage, particularly from AI, cloud computing, and video streaming services. Hyperscalers are increasingly dependent on fast, reliable connections to support their data-heavy services.
Over the last year alone, a number of hyperscaler heavyweights have announced plans to invest in building and operating data centres in the UK, demonstrating the country’s appeal as a strategic digital hub.
Now, with the rise of data centres in the Nordics – driven by access to renewable energy and natural cooling – the UK is becoming a critical junction for data travelling from the Nordics to business centres across Europe.
New incoming cables from the Nordics will land in the North of the UK, but they require extensive backhaul to carry their data down to major business centres like London and Manchester.
A data centre powerhouse
In addition to its role as a connectivity gateway, the UK is rapidly establishing itself as a powerful destination for data centres. Coinciding with the UK government’s International Investment Summit in October, US tech firms CyrusOne, ServiceNow, Cloud HQ, CoreWeave, and ServiceNow pledged investment in data centres worth £6.3 billion. These investments underscore the UK’s increasing significance as a destination for data centres that support both UK businesses and international operations.
One key factor in this growth is the UK government’s recent reclassification of data centres as critical national infrastructure. This shift could unlock further investment, particularly outside of London, as power demands continue to soar.
AI workloads are expected to consume unprecedented energy levels, fuelling demand for sustainable and efficient data centres across the UK—with an increasing number of data centres planned for the North of the country.
The UK’s core network: A critical enabler
The glue that is supporting the UK’s ambitions - as both a transatlantic gateway and a data centre hub - is its core network infrastructure. Currently, the UK’s backhaul network plays a dual role: it transports data from subsea cable landing stations and facilitates data centre-to-data centre connectivity. While some parts of the network are robust, key terrestrial routes linking the north and south of the UK need significant upgrades.
This is particularly crucial as more subsea cables, such as the IOEMA cable from the Nordics, are expected to land in the North, increasing the need for high-capacity connections to business centres in the South, such as London and Manchester.
To facilitate the expected increase in traffic from new subsea cables, enhanced high-capacity routes across the UK will be essential. While 400Gbps connections are becoming more commonplace, increased availability of dark fibre will be critical to connecting strategically important data centres within the UK and between key landing stations.
This infrastructure gap poses a significant challenge to maintaining the UK’s status as a key connector for both transatlantic and Nordic data flows. Increasing levels of digitisation across all businesses in the UK are amplifying the importance of high-quality connectivity to support the country’s digital ambitions.
With subsea cables as key enablers of international business, the UK has historically enjoyed a privileged position as a stepping stone for data travelling across the globe. However, most of this data typically continues on past the UK, underscoring the urgent need for investment in the necessary infrastructure.
Securing the future
To safeguard the UK’s role as both a key transatlantic connector and a leading data centre destination, urgent investment in its core network is required. This includes enhancing high-capacity routes and increasing the availability of dark fibre to meet the growing demands of both subsea and data centre traffic.
The government’s role will be crucial here, with a funding model akin to Project Gigabit—one that incentivises network operators to make these essential upgrades.
If these actions are taken, the UK can cement its place as a global hub for data, ensuring its infrastructure can support both the growing flow of international data and its ambitions to become a key player in the digital economy.
Without them, the country risks being left behind as new transatlantic routes and data centre hubs emerge across Europe.
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