Britain and the United States have agreed to a new technology pact aimed at boosting ties in AI, quantum computing, and civil nuclear energy. The agreement, dubbed the “Tech Prosperity Deal,” includes pledges of a combined £31 billion ($42 billion) in UK investments from top U.S. firms, led by Microsoft. This deal coincides with U.S. President Donald Trump’s second state visit to Britain.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the pact has the potential to “shape the future of millions of people on both sides of the Atlantic” and deliver growth and security. Under pressure to reverse years of weak economic growth, Starmer is now positioning Britain as a prime destination for investment by adopting a light-touch regulatory approach, similar to the U.S. and in contrast to the European Union’s more interventionist stance.
U.S. Firms Make Landmark Commitments
- Microsoft: The company has announced a total investment of £22 billion to expand its cloud and AI infrastructure in the UK. A key part of this is building Britain’s largest AI supercomputer in Loughton, north-east London. Microsoft President Brad Smith noted that relations have significantly improved since the “dark days” before the UK’s antitrust regulator approved the Activision Blizzard acquisition.
- Nvidia: The chipmaker committed to deploying 120,000 graphics processing units (GPUs) across Britain, which is its largest rollout in Europe to date. Nvidia is also working with UK-based Nscale to deploy up to 60,000 Grace Blackwell Ultra chips for a UK leg of OpenAI’s giant “Stargate project” and for the new supercomputer.
- Google: The company announced a £5 billion investment, which includes a new data center in Waltham Cross, north of London, and continued support for AI research through its DeepMind project.
- CoreWeave: The cloud computing firm stated that its £1.5 billion backing will fund energy-efficient data centers in partnership with the Scottish firm DataVita, bringing its total UK investment to £2.5 billion.
In addition to these major commitments, a number of other companies, including Salesforce, Scale AI, BlackRock, Oracle, and Amazon Web Services, also announced investments ranging from hundreds of millions to several billion pounds.
