Kao Data to invest £350m in 40MW Manchester Data Centre

Kao Data has announced a new 40 megawatt (MW) data centre in Manchester, UK. Following the acquisition of two new data centres last year, the move represents the next phase in the continued expansion of the Kao Data platform, with Manchester named as the first of its new Tier II locations in Europe.

The latest phase of Kao Data’s platform expansion has seen the company secure a 39,000m2 ex-industrial site for sustainable redevelopment at Kenwood Point, Manchester. The new data centre, which is planned to become operational in late 2025, will provide space for nine data halls, creating a leading infrastructure hub to support 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.

Kao Data’s first data centre in the North of England will follow the organisations award-winning high performance design, efficiency and sustainability ethos, providing a sustainable, OCP-Ready™ and NVIDIA-DGX Ready certified infrastructure platform for advanced computing. For example, the facility will deliver an industry-leading PUE of 1.2, be powered by 100% renewable energy, and utilise hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) in its generators – providing the highest-grade, sustainable data centre capacity in the region. Furthermore, the data centre will be precision-engineered to incorporate heat re-use capabilities, supporting local communities in its immediate vicinity with a valuable resource in the wake of the cost-of-living crisis.

“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, 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 Governments’ 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 and has established itself as the country’s pre-eminent Tier II data centre cluster, driven by the media, scientific research, and enterprise sectors. The city’s technology ecosystem, for example, is projected to add £74.8bn GVA (gross value added) to the UK economy, and the region is an attractive location for enterprise with access to a highly skilled workforce, readily available renewable energy, and lower operating costs than the London market.

In March 2023, the UK government committed £3.5 billion to the future of science and tech, with around £1BN of the funding pledged directly to support the next generation of supercomputing and artificial intelligence 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.

As AI becomes more ingrained into every facet of business and enterprise, Greater Manchester is perfectly placed to play a pivotal role in the government’s ambitions to become a world-leading superpower in science and tech. With the move to establish a new 40MW data centre in the city, Kao Data is actively supporting this mission, and the regions technology-driven business communities.