As part of the US president Donald Trump’s state visit, the UK and US have announced a new agreement which involves large technology firms committing billions of pounds of investment in artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies.
Dubbed the “Tech Prosperity Deal”, corporates such as Microsoft, NVIDIA, Google, OpenAI and CoreWeave have committed a combined £31 billion for the UK’s AI infrastructure including data centres and computer chips.
Among the announcements are US chip company NVIDIA working with techUK to launch an R&D hub to accelerate the UK’s AI and robotics ecosystem. It will deliver a support programme that connects robotics researchers and start-ups with funding, training and opportunities to collaborate with other industry leaders. NVIDIA is also working with other companiesto deploy 120,000 advanced GPUs across the UK.
Announcing the scheme, techUK highlighted a recent report from Make UK and Sage, which said that improving support for SMEs to adopt automation and AI, including robotics, could
boost the UK economy by £150 billion over the next decade.
Sue Daley OBE, director for tech and innovation at techUK, said:
“We are excited to announce this new programme and to champion our members in this
fast-growing field. The UK has the right components to be a global leader in robotics, from
world-class research, cutting-edge companies, and a strong innovation ecosystem, but it
now needs a clear national vision and the right investment to turn potential into real-world
impact at scale.
“Our new robotics programme will bring together industry, government and academia to
ensure we have a clear national vision to drive the development of advanced robotics, scale
adoption across key sectors, boost growth and productivity, and secure the UK’s place at the forefront of these important technologies.”
Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA, said:
“Today marks a historic chapter in US/United Kingdom technology collaboration.
“We are at the Big Bang of the AI era, and the United Kingdom stands in a Goldilocks position, where world-class talent, research and industry converge.
“By building state-of-the-art AI infrastructure and investing in British startups, we are unlocking the power of AI for the UK, fuelling breakthroughs, creating jobs, and igniting the next industrial revolution.”
The largest commitment comes from Microsoft which is providing a $30 billion (£22 billion) investment in AI infrastructure and ongoing operations across the UK. It includes building the UK’s largest AI supercomputer in Loughton, Essex.
Google has announced the opening of its data centre in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, and more funding DeepMind, its London-based company which uses AI to carry out research in science and healthcare.
Salesforce is delivering an additional $2 billion (£1.4 billion) in investment in its UK business until 2030 with new R&D teams to support business innovation.
A new “AI growth zone” will be created in the North East for the Stargate UK data centre project. The aim is to create 5,000 jobs, with the initiative in partnership with ChatGPT developer OpenAI, Nvidia and British data centre firm Nscale.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said:
“This Tech Prosperity Deal marks a generational step change in our relationship with the US, shaping the futures of millions of people on both sides of the Atlantic, and delivering growth, security and opportunity up and down the country.
“By teaming-up with world-class companies from both the UK and US, we’re laying the foundations for a future where together we are world leaders in the technology of tomorrow, creating highly skilled jobs, putting more money in people’s pockets and ensuring this partnership benefits every corner of the United Kingdom.
Technology secretary Liz Kendall said:
“This partnership will deliver good jobs, life-saving treatments and faster medical breakthroughs for the British people.
“Our world-leading tech companies and scientists will be working together to transform lives across Britain.
“This is a vote of confidence in Britain’s booming AI sector – building on British success stories such as Arm, Wayve and Google Deepmind – that will boost growth and deliver tens of thousands of skilled jobs.”
Digital services tax
The UK government has been questioned on what it needs to give up in return for the investments from US technology companies. One possibility is scrapping the digital services tax (DST), a 2% levy which generates around £800m a year mainly from US tech firms.
Prime minister Keir Starmer said in May there was “ongoing discussions” about the tax, but technology secretary Liz Kendall told the Today programme that the tax isn’t part of the new partnership announced today.