Billions of pounds are pouring into UK data centre builds, but according to new research, a basic planning oversight is stalling growth – a lack of fibre connectivity.

Despite unprecedented national momentum around data centre development, connectivity provider Neos Networks found that 82% of operators have been forced to delay new builds or expansion due to simple fibre availability.

Meanwhile, the majority (89%) of local authorities also report that fibre gaps have delayed projects in their regions, with 46% cautioning that their region’s fibre infrastructure is not fully ready to support AI data centres.

This is having a knock-on effect for tech firms, with almost half (45%) of enterprises citing fibre as the key bottleneck holding back AI and digital infrastructure. This appears to be an issue that data centre operators are keen to solve, with almost all (95%) saying that access to new high-capacity fibre networks will influence their future expansion plans.

Polling 300 data centre decision-makers, enterprise tech execs, and local government stakeholders across the UK, the study found that fibre remains the critical bottleneck that could slow the UK’s digital growth.

The data shows that currently, one in six companies doubts the ability of the UK’s fibre infrastructure to support their AI ambitions, while more than 70% of enterprises feel the UK’s attractiveness for data centre investment needs improvement (53%) or is lagging (17%). 

“Over the past decade, we’ve seen a huge amount of investment in last-mile fibre builds, but core fibre networks across the country have received much less attention,” said Lee Myall, CEO of Neos Networks. “Without them, workloads cannot move between data centres, data cannot be trained, and investments stall.” 

However, the problem has at least spurred an overwhelming consensus that fibre networks must be prioritised.

Nearly all respondents agreed that investment in high-capacity fibre corridors would transform the UK’s ability to attract and scale AI projects, with 95% of data centre operators, 96% of enterprises and 96% of local authorities saying new fibre corridors in underserved areas would encourage regional AI and data centre growth.

Here, at least, the research shows that the UK Government’s AI policies, including initiatives such as AI Growth Zones, are starting to pay off.

Almost all (96%) of data centre operators say AI Growth Zones are influencing expansion and site selection, with 44% citing them as a strong influence, while 68% of enterprises view these growth zones as instrumental in their infrastructure planning. 

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Importantly, this momentum is fuelling fibre growth corridors beyond London. While 23% of data centre operators still expect new investment in Greater London, a greater share pointed to the North of England and the Midlands (39%), signalling a shift towards regional hubs of AI activity.

This diversification is mirrored in the way compute is being deployed. As data centres spread out, 97% of operators expect up to half of UK compute to shift to the edge of the network by 2030, which Neos Network said underlines the need for high-performance, resilient fibre across every region.

“AI is no longer a future ambition, it’s here today, reshaping how businesses, communities and governments operate. But the UK cannot lead in AI on yesterday’s infrastructure, and we need continued investment in the fibre backbones that connect every region of the country,” added Myall.