By Aisha Down
Publication Date: 2026-03-09 16:56:00
1. A supercomputer center due to be built this year is still a scaffolding yard in Loughton
The Guardian visited a site in Essex that is said to house “one of the most powerful AI data centers ever”, built by Nscale. The government and Nscale say this supercomputer should be operational by the end of this year.
The site is still used as a scaffolding yard by another company. While Nscale said it had already purchased the property more than a year ago, land registry records appear to show that the company is not registered as the owner of the property. It is very unlikely that Nscale will complete construction of a “top-tier” supercomputer there this year.
2. The UK government has not verified the figures on massive AI investments
The Guardian asked the government about key investments worth billions of euros, including from Nscale and CoreWeave. The government said that these figures came from the companies themselves and that there was no mechanism to verify these figures. It could…