Argyll Infrastructure Holdings, a Dunoon-based firm focused on building sustainable, high-performance data centres, has announced an initial capital raise of £15 million, the first stage in an ambitious investment plan.
While the firm did not release details of those behind the funding, it said that negotiations were continuing for a further £100 million, expected to be made available within the next six months, with AIH looking to attract future investors to the tune of €2 billion (£1.7bn).
The company said this mega investment, which would count among the largest in Scotland, will support new AI infrastructure sites at both Dunoon and Perth, laying the foundations of a Scottish network designed to deliver resilience, seamless connectivity, and future‑ready capacity.
To anchor the project, AIH has entered a three-year exclusivity deal with SambaNova, the full‑stack AI chip firm reported to be in early acquisition talks with tech giant Intel.
The Scottish data centre builder said that SamabNova’s integrated AI rack solutions could ensure “lightning-fast inference on the best open-source models” while maintaining an efficient carbon footprint.
AIH’s grand plan would see its AI infrastructure grow rapidly over the next two years, creating an eventual 150 jobs at the Dunoon site, with flow-through employment of up to 2,000 new jobs across the UK.
To begin with, the company is targeting a more modest thirty new roles, but said that the project will help to revitalise an area that has suffered economic downturn since the closure of the US Navy submarine base at the Holy Loch in 1992 and the later shutdown of the McAlpines gas rig.
AIH said that the initial phase of work will focus on establishing foundational infrastructure, with the first racks providing immediate computing capacity for AI workloads, with the company aiming to provide capacity for large-scale AI operations.
“By raising the initial capital and confirming the order for the purchase of the initial racks, AIH has established itself as the vanguard of AI adoption in Scotland, and this partnership with SambaNova reinforces the company’s commitment to bringing world-class AI infrastructure to the region,” said Peter Griffiths, managing director.
“The three-year exclusivity arrangement ensures that AIH will be the sole provider of SambaNova’s cutting-edge technology throughout the United Kingdom.”
AIH’s site, anchoring the so-called Killellan AI Growth Zone, is expected to provide an initial capacity of 100MW-600MW, with the build taking advantage of the region’s ample wind, wave and solar energy to minimise power consumption.
The prospective build joins a fast-growing list of data centre projects north of the border, which includes hyperscale developments backed by tens of billions in North Lanarkshire and across the Central Belt.
Source: DIGIT