The UK has quietly become Europe's AI infrastructure capital — but this week delivered a brutal reminder that building data centres isn't the same as owning your technological destiny.

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The numbers are hard to argue with. Britain hosts 523 data centres — nearly a quarter of Europe's total of 2,269, and more than China's 449. The government just approved another on a green-belt site in Slough, with housing minister Matthew Pennycook citing "continuing and...