Kao Data chief wants UK-wide strategy to boost AI and compute sustainably

Spencer Lamb, chief commercial officer at the company, says the situation is rapidly approaching crisis point and wants to see some meaningful action.

With data centres just down the M11 in Harlow and across the UK, Kao Data is a key player in AI, cloud, and enterprise compute generally. CCO, Lamb has called for a UK policy that “envisions data centres alongside renewable energy schemes, to reduce the grid burden and ensure our net zero targets, whilst providing the country with access to the AI compute needed to ensure our position globally as an AI superpower.”

He reveals that Kao Data has been working on a strategy to address the challenge that is now very apparent in the UK and globally with respect to increasing compute demand and how this impacts the electricity grid “but also our nation’s sustainability ambitions.”

He will be presenting to techUK next month, demonstrating the current and future position. Lambs says: “Fundamentally the deployments of GPU technology are the driver behind the situation whereby data centres require up-to three times the power they have been using to-date.

“For some context, a 50MW data centre, is the equivalent to powering 25,000 UK homes. What we are now being asked to build are 150MW data centres, which is the equivalent to the power consumed by 75,000 UK houses.

“This is a much wider challenge than what is being experienced in the Cambridge hi-tech and life science clusters, though no doubt the users of GPUs will witness a similar uptick in their power requirements.

“If the answer is an alternative technology that reduces power consumption, such as quantum computing, then great, but what we are seeing globally is the opposite to this, as everyone seeks to harness the benefits of AI - both generative and inference.

“At Kao Data, we are seeking government involvement in the development of a UK-wide data centre strategy that envisions the development of data centres alongside renewable energy generation, to reduce the burden on the grid and ensure the country reaches its net zero targets, all whilst providing the UK with access to the AI compute needed to ensure its position as a global AI superpower.

“The scale of the issue is significant and requires a creative, sustainable, and well-thought-through new process to ensure that the UK’s AI sector – including its world-leading researchers, start-ups and academics - have access to the same high-density computing and energy infrastructure as our neighbours in EMEA.”

Lamb was a key contributor to a round table under Chatham House rules staged by Business Weekly in Cambridge last week. Compute trailblazer Arm and the Wellcome Sanger Institute, which is using quantum computing in new genomics discovery, delivered fascinating insights to selected academics and industry leaders in Compute: Power with Responsibility, which was supported by quantum computing world leader Quantinuum at the Cambridge HQ of leading law firm Mills & Reeve.