Orcadian and the American company it had been working with on offshore data center infrastructure have called off their non-exclusive joint development agreement on the Earlham project, and neither side owes the other anything. The two firms signed the original agreement on 2 September 2026.
Orcadian said the project's planned scope and timeline for Earlham did not match the partner's near-term deployment plans, so the companies agreed to end the arrangement. The exclusivity option set out in the original agreement was never used, no exclusivity fee was ever agreed or paid, and no payments are owed by either company because of the termination.
Orcadian keeps full control of the P2680 license, which stays 100 percent owned by the company. It said the collaboration helped sharpen its thinking on the Earlham Gigagrid concept, and that it is still talking with several other potential partners on that project, as well as on the separate Orwell development.
What Gigagrid is meant to do
The Earlham Gigagrid concept is meant to supply power and infrastructure for offshore computing equipment kept off the UK's main electricity grid, with a design aimed at keeping Scope 3 emissions, the indirect emissions generated across a company's supply chain, to a minimum. Orcadian said the concept is still early, and still needs concept-select and validation work.
Orcadian CEO Steve Brown said the agreement "has not progressed," but that the joint work "materially advanced our understanding of what an offshore compute development at Earlham would require." He said Orcadian's "view of the opportunity is undiminished," and that the company keeps talking with other potential partners.
Orcadian said it would give further updates on Earlham as the project moves forward.
