Following the acquisition of two new data centres last year, the move is the next phase in the continued expansion of the company’s platform, with Manchester named as the first of its new Tier III locations in Europe.
The new data centre is planned to become operational in late 2025 and will provide space for nine data halls, supporting Greater Manchester’s growing technology ecosystem and the UK’s largest high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) sectors outside of London and the Oxford-Cambridge arc.
“Our move into Manchester marks an important next step in the continued evolution of our organisation, and we’re excited to bring our industry-leading data centre platform to one of the UK’s most influential technology and business hubs,” said Spencer Lamb, chief commercial officer at Kao Data.
“We believe our new facility will set a new standard for sustainable data centres within the region and will provide a piece of foundational infrastructure that supports both Northern England’s advanced computing clusters, and the UK Government’s ambitions to become a technological and economic powerhouse for HPC and AI.”
Manchester has been hailed as one of the UK’s fastest growing technology hubs in recent years. The city’s tech ecosystem, for example, is projected to add around £74.8 billion gross value added (GVA) to the UK economy.
In March 2023, the UK government committed £3.5 billion to the future of science and tech, with around £1 billion of the funding pledged directly to support the next generation of supercomputing and AI research.
Greater Manchester is already home to some of the UK’s most advanced computing organisations including The Hartree National Centre for Digital Innovation at Daresbury, the SKA Telescope at Jodrell Bank, and a plethora of research focused universities.
