DataVita secures £300M funding to expand its Scotland AI Growth Zone datacenter capacity while bringing Dell hardware to the site.

Datacenter operator DataVita has secured a £300 million ($406 million) debt facility to expand its server farm campus in Scotland’s Lanarkshire AI Growth Zone. The financing supports the development of additional capacity in the region, which was unveiled earlier this year and centers on DataVita’s existing operations in Airdrie.

The funding comes from a lending syndicate comprising ING, ABN AMRO, Santander, the Scottish National Investment Bank, and Siemens Financial Services. The UK’s National Wealth Fund is backing the facility with a £202 million guarantee.

DataVita will use the capital to expand its existing DV1 facility and construct a new site, DV3. For context, DV2 is located beneath an office building in Glasgow. Once completed, both DV1 and DV3 will each deliver 40 MW of capacity. CoreWeave has already leased the capacity of both facilities for 15 years, utilizing the infrastructure to support several leading artificial intelligence model developers.

Construction is already underway. Work on the DV1 expansion began last December, followed by the start of DV3 construction in April. The DV1 extension is scheduled for completion by the end of this year, with DV3 expected to finish in summer 2027. DataVita estimates the projects will generate approximately 600 construction jobs and create roughly 100 permanent, highly skilled positions once operational.

The firm views these developments as the first phase of a larger campus designed to establish North Lanarkshire as a dedicated hub for AI infrastructure. The initiative aligns with the UK government’s AI Opportunities Action Plan, launched at the start of last year to stimulate economic growth through artificial intelligence. A core component of the strategy involves expanding datacenter capacity to host essential computing infrastructure, with AI Growth Zone sites prioritized based on reliable power availability.

Lanarkshire offers a strategic advantage for this expansion, benefiting from an abundant energy supply and a central position within Scotland’s electricity grid. DataVita states that the site’s power requirements will be met overwhelmingly by renewable sources, leveraging Scotland’s low-carbon energy mix.

In conjunction with the zone’s promotion, the UK government noted that Dell Technologies will establish a presence in the area. The company is setting up an administrative office at Mercury House within Lanarkshire’s AI Innovation Park, which will serve as the new base for its Scottish operations. “Dell's team in Scotland includes customer-facing and business support functions, alongside technical specialists who work with customers to develop and deploy technology solutions,” the company stated.

“There is plenty of talk about AI infrastructure just now. This project is being delivered: work is well advanced on site, every megawatt is contracted, and the first facility completes this year,” said DataVita managing director Danny Quinn. “This type of investment in Scotland's datacenter infrastructure would have been unthinkable just two or three years ago. That is the impact AI is having.”

UK AI minister Kanishka Narayan emphasized that the announcements will help maintain Scotland’s position at the forefront of AI development, noting that the technology is already accelerating medicine discovery, enhancing public services, and boosting business productivity. “For local people, that means more than new buildings and technology. It means the chance to develop new skills, access new careers and benefit from the growth and investment that AI can bring,” he said.