Latos to Accelerate AI in the UK with New Edge Data Centres

• UK’s newest data centre company will design, build, and operate high-performance, volumetric facilities at the network edge, supporting real-time AI
• Fast construction and fit-out – Latos can open new facilities within 6 months

Stockton-upon-Tees, 23 January 2025 – Latos today launched a new capability to design, build, and operate a new generation of small-scale “volumetric” data centres at the network edge. Edge data centres will play a key role in enabling what Accenture has called the “binary big bang” – the transformation of businesses and public services using AI.

Edge-based volumetric data centres enable AI to run faster and safer. Autonomous vehicles and smart transport services depend on real-time AI to avoid accidents. Banks will use it to risk-assess individual customer transactions in milliseconds, stopping fraud in its tracks. Media streaming companies will be able to run advertising tailored to individual customers. Software “agents” that automate mundane office tasks will become ubiquitous.

According to the Bank of England, over 70% of businesses are either investing, or plan to invest in AI over the next three years.

Latos volumetric data centres will be built to Tier III standards, comprise as few as 24 racks with unlimited scaling opportunity, and deliver as much as 100kW of energy per rack. This is enough to support the most intensive AI training tasks: training a generative model like ChatGPT needs around 80kW per rack.

The new facilities will also reflect the latest net-zero building techniques. Constructed from modular components, they will feature high performance power and cooling. Latos plans to design, build, and operate volumetric data centres on behalf of customers across the UK, as well as licensing its designs to partners worldwide.

Latos announcement comes as the UK government reveals plans to expand the UK’s computing capacity 20-fold by 2030 as part of the AI Opportunities Action Plan. It is creating a number of AI Growth Zones (AIGZs) across the UK to help support private investors in data centres and other AI infrastructure.

Mike Carlin, CEO of Latos Data Centres, said: “While we applaud the government for its ambition over the UK’s AI infrastructure, a handful of large-scale data centres in far-flung locations won’t be enough. We’ll need more compute facilities closer to end users – and that means the network edge.”

“We’ve designed Latos volumetric data centres specifically to help organisations capitalise on AI. They are state of the art, quick to build, and cost-effective to run.”

Latos recently announced it is moving into the construction phase of a 50,400 sq. m hyperscale data centre in Cardiff and plans to open a total of 40 data centres across the UK by 2030. latosdc.co.uk

About Latos

Latos develops purpose-built, Tier III aligned data centres that harness renewable energy to support the most demanding applications. From Edge to Hyperscale, it engineers dedicated, tailor-made data solutions that power organisations of all kinds supported by rapid, industry-leading technical services.