The UK just picked the opposite side of America's AI fight — and it matters for the AI trade. Growth minister Dan Tomlinson told the Financial Times the UK will not slow AI development, even as US voters just punished data-centre expansion at the ballot box. In the US midterms, Democratic candidates won on tighter AI rules and slower data-centre construction. In the UK, ministers want data centres treated as critical infrastructure, with a 6GW computing target by 2030. The UK's trade: priority grid connections and lower energy costs for developers who invest locally, create jobs and protect water. The Budget calls it the Data Centre Covenant. The split is real even inside the UK. Scotland's SNP passed a motion to freeze new data centres, and one proposed site at Larbert drew more than 100 protesters and nearly 7,000 online objections. The catch: a 6GW buildout needs power, water and planning permission — the same bottlenecks that turned US voters against data centres. A target is not a grid connection. Two countries, two bets on the same technology. One is slowing down. The other is speeding up. BTC sits near $75,750, roughly flat on the day.