techUK has released a new report, titled Digital Infrastructure 2035, urging the UK government to publish a 10 year digital infrastructure strategy by 2027, a recommendation that matters to institute professionals as it quantifies structural barriers already costing the UK data centre investment rather than warning of a future risk. The report calls for a Cabinet Office minister responsible for delivery, a digital infrastructure unit within the Regulatory Innovation Office, and moving electricity levies to general taxation by 2029.

techUK is the UK's leading technology trade association, representing more than 1,000 member companies ranging from FTSE 100 firms to small and medium sized enterprises.

The report responds to constraints already visible in the data rather than a hypothetical future bottleneck.

Ofgem's electricity demand connection queue rose from 41 gigawatts to 125 gigawatts between November 2024 and June 2025, with 73 gigawatts of that increase attributed to data centres, according to Engineering and Technology Magazine. UK industrial electricity prices for energy intensive users average around 112 US dollars per megawatt hour, against 28 dollars in the United States, a gap that has already led OpenAI to pause its Stargate UK data centre project citing energy costs, according to ResultSense.

techUK associate director for digital infrastructure Sophie Greaves said, "Digital infrastructure is no longer simply an enabler of economic activity, it is the foundation on which future economic growth, innovation and national resilience will be built. The countries that invest now in connectivity, compute and data infrastructure will be best placed to capture the economic opportunities of the next decade."

For the sector, a trade association quantifying an 8 year average grid connection wait alongside industrial electricity prices well above the IEA median converts abstract competitiveness concerns into figures government cannot easily dismiss. For the sector's data centre operators specifically, the report's request for general taxation to absorb electricity levies would materially change project economics if adopted.

Whether government commits to a 10 year strategy by 2027, rather than incremental fixes, will determine whether the UK retains data centre investment that is already showing signs of relocating elsewhere.

Source: Capacity / Engineering and Technology Magazine / ResultSense