Argyll Data Development has announced a strategic partnership with SambaNova, the AI infrastructure provider, to deliver a green and sovereign AI inference cloud for the UK market.
The project, at the Killellan AI Growth Zone, a 184 acre digital campus on Scotland’s Cowal Peninsula, will create a blueprint for how nations can combine AI sovereignty, energy independence, and sustainability, in the rapidly growing AI data processing and services market, said the partners.
Killellan is being promoted as a model for sovereign-scale AI compute that keeps sensitive workloads within UK borders, while driving regional economic growth. The project is expected to eventually generate hundreds of millions of pounds annually to the Scottish economy.
Harnessing wind, wave and solar energy generated on-site, Argyll will deploy SambaNova’s air-cooled SN40L systems, a platform engineered for “maximum efficiency and minimum power consumption”. Each rack draws roughly one-tenth the power of traditional GPU systems, we are told, eliminating the need for liquid cooling, while maintaining enterprise-grade performance.
“Together with SambaNova and our strategic partners, we’re building a sovereign AI infrastructure powered by renewable energy, demonstrating that sustainability and scale can go hand in hand. Our goal isn’t just to make AI greener, but to make it competitive, compliant and cost-effective,” said Peter Griffiths, executive chairman at Argyll. “This project gives UK enterprises the ability to innovate responsibly, securely and within our own borders, in full alignment with national AI ambitions.”
“Argyll is a blueprint for scaling AI responsibly. By pairing renewable power with high-performance, energy-efficient computing, it shows what sustainable AI infrastructure can achieve,” added Rodrigo Liang, CEO of SambaNova. “We’re enabling large-model inference with maximum performance per watt, while helping enterprises and governments maintain full control over their data and energy footprint.”
The first phase of the Killellan site, expected to come online during 2027, will provide 100 to 600 megawatts of capacity, scaling to over 2 Gigawatts at full build-out. A private-wire renewable network, and vanadium-flow battery storage, will enable “island-mode” operation, with future grid integration planned.
Other technology companies involved in the project include Schneider Electric, Aveva, and Lenovo.
Waste heat from the data-centre campus will support vertical farming, aquaculture, and local district heating, using a closed-loop, circular design.
