'Bridgend will be at the centre of Al revolution'

A NEW hi-tech growth zone that includes Bridgend will put the whole region “at the heart of Britain's economic recovery”.

- SION BARRY Business editor

Liz Kendall, UK Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology Chris Elmore MP

Bridgend and Porthcawl MP Chris Elmore made that claim as he welcomed news that Wales is getting a second artificial intelligence (Al) growth zone aimed at accelerating the delivery of new data centres and supporting required skills.

Details of the South Wales-based project come after confirmation of an ‘Al growth zone for North Wales.

The UK Government announced the South Wales zone that will cover a number of data centre and planned data centre sites, including the former Bridgend Ford engine plant, where US data centre company Vantage Data Centres is taking forward investment, worth billions of pounds, to build a campus of 10 data centres.

It also includes Vantage's data centre project at the Welsh Government-owned Bro Tathan business park in the Vale of Glamorgan, for which it was recently granted planning consent.

The South Wales zone also covers Microsoft's data centre project in Newport.

The investment in data centres in South Wales is forecast to create 5,000 jobs over the next decade, although the majority will be construction-related.