Nvidia and UK government announce £1.5bn initiative to boost AI infrastructure, skills, and sovereign capability
At London Tech Week, Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang announced a groundbreaking AI initiative. Their joint vision: to position the UK as an “AI maker, not an AI taker” by advancing sovereign infrastructure, research capacity, and technical talent.
AI Infrastructure Expansion: A £1.5 Billion Investment to Scale Compute Power
The centrepiece of the announcement was the formation of the UK Sovereign AI Industry Forum. Backed by leading British firms including BAE Systems, BT, Babcock, National Grid, and Standard Chartered, the forum pledges to amplify domestic computing capacity twentyfold. This strategic investment totals £1.5 billion and aims to nurture the UK’s AI startup ecosystem.
Starmer emphasised the significance: “This is a huge vote of confidence in the UK. We’re leaning into AI’s potential to benefit millions.”
Nvidia’s Huang described the UK as a global hub for AI research, noting the critical infrastructure shortfall: “The UK is the third-largest AI venture capital ecosystem, but it lacks compute power.”
New deployments by cloud providers Nscale and Nebius will enhance this infrastructure. Nscale will install 10,000 Nvidia GPUs by 2026, while Nebius will deploy 4,000, enabling broader research and public service applications.
Skills and Research: Educating the Next Generation of AI Talent
Addressing talent development, Nvidia committed £185 million to establish a new AI Technology Centre. This facility will provide comprehensive training in data science, AI, and accelerated computing, with a focus on foundation models and climate applications.
Starmer highlighted the government’s ambition: “We’re making a step change in homegrown talent. Our tech-first programme will train up to one million young people.”
Additionally, UK universities remain central to AI advancement. The JADE consortium, led by Oxford University and the Turing Institute, is leveraging Nvidia tools for safety research and AI development. Notable projects include a digital twin of the human body, the Isambard-AI supercomputer in Bristol, and pollution-modelling at Manchester.
AI Integration Across Industries and Public Services
The UK’s financial and public sectors are also embracing AI. The Financial Conduct Authority will launch a digital sandbox for safe innovation testing. Barclays Eagle Labs announced a new innovation hub focused on AI and deep tech startups.
Nvidia’s Inception programme will support early-stage firms, offering access to critical tools and expertise. Participating companies include Basecamp Research (AI in drug discovery) and Synthesia (multilingual video generation).
AI is being embedded into broader operations too. BT is automating network management; LSEG integrates AI into data platforms; NatWest employs it for customer experience and fraud detection.
As Starmer concluded: “AI is not just technology—it’s infrastructure that underpins healthcare, education, manufacturing, and finance. We must harness it fully.”
