UK risks falling behind in AI race without faster telecoms upgrades, say executives
TL;DR
Planning delays and slow 5G upgrades could leave the UK unable to cope with a surge in AI-related traffic The UK risks becoming a laggard in the global AI race as crucial telecoms upgrades to harness the technology fall behind rival nations, according to senior industry executives. The infrastructure AI race has centred on the need to build datacentres, and to ensure they have access to the huge water and energy supplies required to cool and supply the computational power to train and run AI models.
Nauti's Take
The useful shift here: the infrastructure debate has focused almost entirely on datacentres, power and water, while the links between them can become the real bottleneck. The caveat is that the warning comes from telecoms executives who benefit directly from faster planning approvals, and the projected surge in AI traffic is still a forecast.
Anyone planning AI infrastructure in Europe should treat the network layer as part of the build.
Sources