Built for the AI Edge
Latos’ neural edge AI-purposed facilities promise ultra-low latency, rapid build times and sovereign capacity to accelerate real-time AI across the UK.
Latos, a pioneering UK AI facility developer, has unveiled plans to accelerate artificial intelligence with a nationwide network of high-performance ‘Neural Edge’ facilities at the network edge, that are designed to deliver real-time AI with ultra-low latency and robust data sovereignty.
The company’s proposition addresses a critical bottleneck: as AI becomes embedded in everyday services, processing cannot sit hundreds of miles from end users. By moving compute power closer to the source, Latos’ neural-edge model enables instant responses for applications where milliseconds matter — from autonomous mobility and smart transport to fraud prevention, personalised media and the rise of ‘agentic’ software.
The first of these facilities — the AI-purposed Neural Edge Data Centre at Preston Farm in Stockton-on-Tees, is now under construction. Representing the UK’s first dedicated AI data centre, it will deliver up to 9.5 MW of IT capacity within a 1,750sq m footprint, powered by renewable energy and engineered for rapid scalability.
The site’s high-density, low-latency configuration is purpose-built for AI workloads, providing a blueprint for the network of Neural Edge facilities that will follow across the UK.
Built to Tier III standards, each AI-purposed facility can launch with as few as 24 racks and scale modularly, delivering up to 250 kW per rack — sufficient for the most demanding AI workloads, including training frontier-scale models that typically require around 80kW per rack. The approach combines rapid deployment with serious density, ensuring customers can stand up new AI capacity without waiting years for traditional builds.
Speed is a hallmark: Latos can design, construct and fit out new edge sites in as little as 18 months. The firm’s modular architecture integrates high-efficiency power and cooling and reflects net-zero building techniques to reduce embodied carbon and operational emissions over the facility lifecycle.
Latos frames this as an infrastructure moment comparable to the shift from dial-up to fibre. With over 70% of UK businesses investing in or planning to invest in AI over the next three years, demand for low-latency compute is set to accelerate sharply — particularly as consumer-facing AI moves beyond prototypes into live services.
The national context is also changing fast. The UK Government has classified data centres as critical infrastructure, outlining ambitions to expand domestic computing capacity twentyfold by 2030, including the creation of AI Growth Zones to catalyse private investment. Latos argues that meeting this goal will require resilient AI-purposed edge sites that place intelligence near people, enterprises and public services.
Mike Carlin, CEO of Latos Data Centres, said: “While the Government’s ambition is welcome, a handful of giant facilities in far-flung locations won’t be enough. Real AI needs to live where people live. That’s why Latos has engineered our facilities as state-of-the-art, fast to build and cost-effective to run.”
Latos managing director Andy Collin says: “AI is set to transform how we live and work. The future applications are incredibly exciting and will bring untapped opportunities to people and communities, just as the internet did. But to realise them, a new kind of data centre capability is needed.”
The company plans a total of 40 UK facilities by 2030, which will position it perfectly to accommodate the increased demand for AI services already forecast.
Positioned as a ‘25-year-old start-up’, Latos blends heritage engineering with a genuinely innovative model for AI infrastructure: purpose-built facilities, renewable-ready design and rapid, industry-leading technical services. The next wave of AI will see it become a consumer product, which in turn will demand a service that is fast, safe and dependable. To achieve that, the compute power must be closer to the user, denser and deployable at speed.
For organisations plotting their AI roadmaps, Latos’ promise is straightforward: near-instant responses, sovereign control and a build timeline measured in months, not years.
Discover Latos Neural Edge at latosdc.co.uk.
Media enquiries E: press@latosdc.co.uk.
