UK business investment in digital infrastructure, with revised ONS figures showing spending increasing from £6.3 billion in 2019 to around £11.6 billion in 2024. The broader category includes data centres, software, databases, cables and other digital infrastructure, reflecting the growing importance of computing capacity as AI adoption accelerates.
The investment surge is particularly visible in infrastructure connected to data centres and fibre networks. ONS estimates that investment in a group of assets including data centres and fibre-optic cables reached about £5.6 billion in 2025, roughly 94% higher than at the start of the pandemic. Meanwhile, around 171 data-centre construction projects tracked by Barbour ABI could potentially quadruple current data-centre investment by 2030.
But there is an important contradiction: massive investment in AI-related infrastructure has not yet translated into equally obvious productivity gains. Economists and researchers have pointed to signs of a UK productivity boom, yet the report notes that AI itself has not clearly emerged as the main driver of stronger economic growth. More than a third of UK businesses with 10 or more employees are reportedly adopting AI in 2026, but widespread adoption does not automatically mean companies are successfully redesigning their operations around it.
The broader takeaway is that AI's economic impact may lag behind its infrastructure spending. The UK is investing heavily in the physical and digital foundations required for AI, but the real test will be whether businesses convert that investment into higher productivity, better products and faster growth. In other words, building the AI infrastructure is only the first step; the harder challenge is turning increasingly powerful digital capabilities into measurable economic value.
