Data centres have been designated by the UK government as critical national infrastructure, the first such designation in nearly a decade, labelling them as important as the likes of the NHS and the water supply.
Downing Street announced the move on Thursday, explaining that data centres would be prioritised for support during incidents such as cyber-attacks or extreme weather.
“Data centres are the engines of modern life, they power the digital economy and keep our most personal information safe,” technology secretary Peter Kyle commented.
“Bringing data centres into the critical national infrastructure regime will allow better coordination and cooperation with the government against cyber criminals and unexpected events.”
CrowdStrike’s IT outage earlier in the summer had hit 60% of UK doctor’s surgeries, which the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said showed the “catastrophic impact of IT and cyber threats on people’s lives”.
Data centres, whjch join 12 other sectors on the UK’s critical infrastructure list, with space and defence the last sectors to gain the status in 2015, could become increasingly important as demand for artificial intelligence picks up.
Amazon's AWS arm announced on Wednesday that it would invest £8 billion to build data sites in the UK, joining Microsoft and Google in similar plans, plans backed by Chancellor Rachel Reeves.