The company confirmed on Thursday that it will not proceed with the British phase of the project for now, saying work will resume only when conditions support long-term investment.

Stargate UK, developed with Nvidia and British developer Nscale, was announced in September 2025 as part of a plan to expand global data centre capacity.

The project was expected to deploy up to 31,000 AI chips and strengthen the country’s ability to run its own artificial intelligence systems.

That capacity, usually called sovereign compute, allows a country to manage sensitive data and AI workloads locally instead of relying on overseas providers.

OpenAI said in a statement: “We see huge potential for the UK’s AI future. AI compute is foundational to that goal, we continue to explore Stargate UK and will move forward when the right conditions such as regulation and the cost of energy enable long-term infrastructure investment.”

The decision is a setback for the UK government as Prime Minister Keir Starmer has made artificial intelligence central to his economic plans and wants Britain to attract more global tech investment.

Officials insist talks are still ongoing. A spokesperson said the government is “continuing to work with OpenAI and other leading AI companies to strengthen UK compute capacity”.

At the same time, they pointed to more than £100 billion in private investment that has flowed into the UK’s AI sector since 2024.

The cost of energy is also a big issue. Britain has some of the highest electricity prices in Europe, and large data centres require vast amounts of power to run and cool advanced chips. Regulation is another concern, especially those around data use and copyright.

OpenAI has been expanding its data centre footprint in other regions. Its Stargate programme includes projects in the United States, Norway and the United Arab Emirates. The first major campus is already underway in Texas.

The pause in the UK also comes as the company strengthens its focus. It has scaled back some side efforts and is concentrating more on core services like ChatGPT.

Competition is increasing, with companies such as Anthropic and Google pushing ahead with their own systems.

Despite the Stargate project delay, OpenAI says it will continue discussions with the UK government, including plans to support public services with its technology.

For now, the project is on hold, with no timeline for when work might begin.

The transaction links a rocket and satellite heavyweight with a company built to develop advanced conversational systems, pushing SpaceX far beyond launch services and into the core infrastructure behind next-generation computing.

People familiar with the agreement say SpaceX is valued at $1 trillion, while xAI carries a price tag of $250 billion. 

Together, that creates a private entity worth about $1.25 trillion, a figure that eclipses Vodafone’s takeover of Mannesmann in 2000, which stood unchallenged for more than two decades.

Under the terms of the deal, investors in xAI will receive 0.1433 shares of SpaceX for each xAI share they hold. Some senior executives at xAI are said to have the option of taking cash instead, priced at $75.46 per share. 

The combined company is expected to price its shares at roughly $527.

Describing the acquisition, Musk said: “This marks not just the next chapter, but the next book in SpaceX and xAI’s mission: scaling to make a sentient sun to understand the Universe and extend the light of consciousness to the stars!”

The merger gives SpaceX a direct route into high-demand computing infrastructure as power, cooling and chip supply become key limits to growth. 

Musk has repeatedly argued that land-based data centres are nearing their limits, both economically and environmentally. Space, in his view, provides cheaper energy management and faster scaling within a few years.

SpaceX already tops the private space market and was last valued at about $800 billion during an internal share sale. xAI, which had been valued at $230 billion late last year, brings not just software expertise but also access to vast data streams and distribution channels created through earlier internal mergers.

This deal also tightens what investors often call the “Muskonomy”. Tesla, Neuralink, The Boring Company and the social platform X now sit alongside a unified space and computing operation. Musk has done this before. 

Tesla’s purchase of SolarCity in 2016 and the earlier share swap that moved X under xAI’s control both followed the same pattern of consolidation.

Attention now turns to the public markets. People close to the matter say the combined business is preparing for a major stock market debut in 2026, with expectations that it could command a valuation above $1.5 trillion. 

If that happens, it would rank among the most valuable listed companies in the world.

Regulators are unlikely to stay quiet. SpaceX holds billions of dollars in contracts with NASA, the US Department of Defence and intelligence agencies. 

Any transfer of assets, staff or technology will attract scrutiny, particularly given Musk’s overlapping leadership roles across several firms.

Neither SpaceX nor xAI responded immediately to requests for comment.

At the centre of the meeting was a shared realisation: in today’s Nigeria, digital transformation and media regulation can no longer travel separate paths.

Receiving , Mr. Charles Ebuebu, the NBC director general, Kashifu Inuwa, NITDA’s director general, spoke candidly about what it truly takes to build a modern digital public sector in an ecosystem where technology, content, and regulation increasingly overlap.

For Inuwa, digital transformation is not a destination, it is a journey. One that demands constant learning, periodic reassessment, and the courage to rethink long-standing ways of working.

“Digital transformation is continuous,” he explained. “It requires adaptability, clear targets, and the willingness to evolve as realities change.”

Changing Mindsets Before Changing Systems

Inuwa traced NITDA’s transformation story back to a critical starting point: people. When the agency began its reform journey, the majority of its workforce had migrated from the mainstream civil service, bringing with them deeply entrenched bureaucratic habits and rigid operational structures.

Rather than ignore this reality, NITDA confronted it head-on.

“Over 70 to 80 per cent of our staff came from the traditional public service,” Inuwa noted. “We understood the mindset, so we deliberately changed the narrative, by focusing on people, resetting attitudes, building capacity, and creating a culture that supports innovation and accountability.”

This people-first approach, he explained, became the foundation upon which every other reform rested.

Culture as the Engine of Transformation

At NITDA, culture was not treated as a soft issue. It became a strategic tool. The agency embarked on a comprehensive cultural reorientation, supported by internal audits and initiatives designed to foster psychological safety, an environment where staff could question processes, propose ideas, and collaborate across hierarchies without fear.

According to Inuwa, this shift was essential.

“No matter how sound a strategy may be, without the right culture, execution will fail,” he said.

The agency adopted an integrated framework covering people, process, culture, content, and technology. Through this lens, long-standing bureaucratic traits, command-and-control leadership, risk aversion, and excessive dependence on top-level approvals, were systematically identified and dismantled.

Rebuilding Processes for Speed and Trust

One of the most striking outcomes of this transformation was process reform. NITDA documented over 396 internal processes, many of which were weighed down by inefficiencies and redundant approvals.

These were streamlined to empower departments, encourage trust-based delegation, and free leadership to focus on strategy rather than routine administration.

Tasks that once required multiple approvals at the Director General’s desk were redesigned so departments became accountable gatekeepers, creating room for automation and smarter digital workflows.

AI as an Enabler, Not a Threat

On technology adoption, Inuwa made NITDA’s position clear: technology must serve purpose, not hype. Every staff member underwent mandatory artificial intelligence training, reinforcing the agency’s belief that AI is a productivity enabler, not a job replacer.

Today, staff across departments are using AI to enhance workflows, generate insights, and move from manual administrative roles into AI-enabled system management, proof that technology, when properly aligned with people and processes, can unlock real value.

This experience, Inuwa revealed, has been carefully documented in a digital transformation playbook, one the agency is willing to share with NBC and other government institutions.

A New Chapter of Inter-Agency Collaboration

Looking ahead, Inuwa proposed concrete areas for collaboration between NITDA and NBC, including shared access to the transformation playbook, tailored capacity-building programmes, digital literacy initiatives delivered with global partners such as Cisco, and technical support to modernise regulatory frameworks for Nigeria’s evolving media and digital ecosystem.

For NBC’s Director General, the meeting affirmed what he described as a long-overdue partnership.

Mr. Ebuebu noted that while he had engaged the NITDA DG informally in the past, institutionalising collaboration was now critical, given the rapid convergence of media, technology, data governance, and content distribution.

According to him, a strategic partnership between NBC and NITDA is essential, not only to regulate the modern media landscape effectively, but also to support local content growth, promote innovation, enable knowledge transfer, and safeguard Nigeria’s cultural and national interests.

As Nigeria’s digital economy expands, the meeting signalled a clear message: the future of digital transformation will be built not in silos, but through collaboration, where technology, regulation, and culture evolve together.

Seeing as the world gradually anticipates the ‘next normal’ following the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to have a critical look at the global fintech landscape and draw insights on its possible trajectory in 2022.

Is the global fintech space on track to achieve that valuation? Are African fintechs pulling the needed weight to command a huge chunk of the $324 billion mark? How can the Nigerian fintech ecosystem leverage the trends and data to achieve encompassing growth?

On the 10th of February 2022, the Fintech Association of Nigeria (FintechNGR), would be hosting the Fintech Outlook 2022, an annual intellectual webinar that attempts to take a 360 overview of the global fintech space, what it portends globally and how Nigeria and Africa as a whole are drawing on requisite insights to leapfrog the industry.

In addition to key industry presentations, the webinar would unearth and discuss trends, and forecasts across fintech verticals; lending, payment, mobile money, banking, infrastructure, regulation, partnerships, skillsets, wealthtech, insurtech, cybersecurity, data privacy, open banking, decentralized finance and other areas.

Amidst other considerations, it would also delve into the threats, opportunities, success factors, major drivers, key technology that can significantly shift the industry trajectory in 2022.

The speakers joining us for the Fintech Outlook 2022 includes Ade Bajomo, President FintechNGR, Mitchell Elegbe, CEO, Interswitch Nigeria, Premier Oiwoh, CEO, NIBSS, Odunayo Eweniyi, CEO, Piggyvest, Daniel Awe, Head, Africa Fintech Foundry, Yinka Edu, Partner, UUBO, Dr David Isiavwe, President, ISSAN-Nigeria and Nkebet Mesele, Senior Director (Sub-Saharan Africa), VISA.

Participation

To participate during the webinar you are required to pre-register through the link HERE.

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Also happening at the Fintech Outlook 2022 is the launch of its Startup Marketplace, an innovative platform by FintechNGR that provides startups playing in the fintech ecosystem access to free and heavily discounted services in funding, legal, infrastructure, cybersecurity, data privacy, business development, and a variety of other areas, to accelerate their growth.

Fintech Association of Nigeria (FintechNGR), the pioneer national fintech association in Africa and founding member of Africa Fintech Network (A Network of thirty-four (34) National Fintech Associations in Africa), member Global Fintech Hub Federation has been at the fore-front, connecting stakeholders, accelerating fintech growth and impact, promoting and advocating for conducive environment for fintech to thrive and adoption of emerging technologies.

For enquiries or partnerships, send a mail to exec.sec@fintechng.org or call +234 903 000 3013 or visit the website.