Carbon3.ai to Deploy Nvidia's Latest Blackwell Ultra AI Clusters Across UK Data Centers
December 18, 2025
In a significant move to bolster the United Kingdom's sovereign artificial intelligence capabilities, infrastructure provider Carbon3.ai has announced a major agreement to deploy next-generation Nvidia Blackwell Ultra GPU clusters within its nationwide data center network. The deal underscores the intensifying global race to secure advanced, efficient, and locally controlled compute infrastructure for AI development.
The company revealed on December 17 that it will install HPE ProLiant Compute XD685 servers equipped with the new Nvidia Blackwell Ultra chips. These high-performance systems will be housed within HPE's modular AI Mod POD solutions, which come pre-integrated with direct liquid cooling technology. The deployment will utilize Nvidia Spectrum-X networking and BlueField-3 DPUs to connect the clusters, forming a distributed AI supercomputing platform across multiple UK sites.
Carbon3.ai claims the liquid-cooled architecture will reduce the energy consumption of the AI infrastructure by up to 30 percent, a critical efficiency gain for power-intensive workloads. The company further emphasizes its use of on-site renewable energy to power its facilities, aligning performance with sustainability goals. This deployment builds upon Carbon3.ai's existing platform, which runs on the Vast Data architecture for high-speed data storage and access.
Mick McNeil, co-founder and chief business officer at Carbon3.ai, stated, “Nvidia HGX B300 represents a generational leap in performance and efficiency. This isn’t just about faster GPUs - we’re supporting the building of an AI economy that runs on UK energy, UK infrastructure, and under UK jurisdiction.”
Matt Harris, SVP and managing director for UK, Ireland, Middle East, and Africa at HPE, added, “With the deployment of Nvidia Blackwell Ultra GPUs on HPE liquid-cooled AI servers, Carbon3.ai is tackling a core barrier to the UK’s AI adoption – efficient, scalable, and sovereign AI infrastructure.”
The initiative marks a rapid scaling of Carbon3.ai's ambitions since it launched its sovereign AI platform in September 2025 with an ultimate goal of deploying 100,000 GPUs across more than 30 locations. The company currently claims 50MW of available data center capacity and a development pipeline of 4.5GW, which includes plans for four hyperscale facilities and a network of 30 rapid-deployment sites. A project for a modular AI data center on a landfill site in Derbyshire was also announced in November.
This large-scale deployment of cutting-edge hardware positions Carbon3.ai as a key player in providing UK organizations with local, high-performance AI compute. It directly addresses growing concerns over data sovereignty, supply chain security, and the environmental impact of AI, potentially accelerating domestic AI research and commercial application while keeping data and infrastructure within national borders.
Source: datacenterdynamics
Carbon3.ai to Deploy Nvidia's Latest Blackwell Ultra AI Clusters Across UK Data Centers
