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Analysis

April 13, 2026

OpenAI’s Stargate retreat exposes cracks in UK tech ambitions

Ministers face tough choices over energy prices, tech sovereignty and partnerships with Big Tech


The tech giant announced the multi-billion dollar data centre project in September to much fanfare. Credit: Unsplash

Last week, OpenAI hit the brakes on its flagship Stargate data centre project in the UK, blaming high energy costs and regulatory uncertainty — and marking a major setback for the government’s AI ambitions.

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Stargate UK was announced to much fanfare during Trump's state visit to the UK last year. Credit: White House
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Stargate UK was one of many project in data centre startup Nscale's pipeline. Credit: Nscale
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Freya Pratty

Freya Pratty is Sifted's associate editor. She covers UK tech and leads Sifted's investigations. Follow her on X , LinkedIn and Bluesky

Martin Coulter

Martin Coulter is Sifted's news editor, based in London. You can follow him on LinkedIn and X

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The people, companies and trends shaping European AI and deeptech.