April 9, 2026
Stargate? More like Star-wait UK
OpenAI puts Stargate UK on ice, blames energy costs and red tape
Fans roast the UK rollout, chant 'RAM to the people,' and bet Claude will swoop in
TLDR: OpenAI paused its UK “Stargate” data center, citing energy prices and regulations, and says it’ll resume when conditions improve. Commenters roasted the UK as an expensive, delay-prone place to build, rallied around “RAM to the people,” and speculated whether Anthropic’s Claude might swoop in—highlighting how power and policy can make or break AI plans.
OpenAI just hit pause on its hyped “Stargate UK” plan, blaming high energy bills and red tape—and the commentariat went full popcorn mode. One user kicked things off with a meme-ready chant: “Good, RAM to the people!” Another came in hot with the brutal verdict that “the UK is a pretty stupid place to be building out new datacenters”, citing constant delays and sky‑high costs. Fans also wondered if rival Anthropic’s assistant, Claude, might glide in to claim the spotlight: “I wonder if Claude will get the deal.”
The drama didn’t stop there. Thread police showed up with a link to an earlier discussion, because of course they did: “Already being discussed…”. Meanwhile, OpenAI insists the project isn’t dead—just snoozing until power is cheaper and rules feel friendlier. That’s awkward for the UK government, which pitched Stargate as a big AI win, with promises of 8,000 to 31,000 AI chips (think: the brainy graphics cards that power chatbots) and local compute for public services and finance. The article’s side note about ex-politicians George Osborne and Nick Clegg orbiting the project only fueled the eye-rolls. The vibe? Stargate becomes Star‑wait, the UK gets roasted for energy costs, and the crowd wonders if Claude is waiting in the wings.
Key Points
- •OpenAI has paused its Stargate UK datacenter project, citing the UK regulatory environment and high energy costs.
- •The company says it will proceed when conditions support long-term infrastructure investment and will continue investing in UK talent and public-sector AI commitments under an MoU with the UK Government.
- •Stargate UK was planned as a multi-site deployment across the UK, including Cobalt Park in North Tyneside, within an AI Growth Zone.
- •Partner Nscale had planned to expand its UK capacity for Stargate UK; the company declined to comment.
- •OpenAI initially expected to acquire 8,000 Nvidia GPUs, with potential scaling to 31,000, to provide local sovereign compute for public services, regulated industries, research, and national security partnerships.