Keir Starmer has welcomed a ‘landmark’ $30 billion investment by Microsoft in the UK’s artificial intelligence capabilities, which will include the building of the country’s largest supercomputer.
The tech giant, headquartered in Redmond, Virginia, unveiled the commitment last night as President Donald Trump touched down in the country for his second state visit.
President Trump has brought a number of technology firms as part of a trade delegation that is expected to thrash out a series of deals to bring the US and UK closer together. However, there remain some doubts as American lawmakers are said to be uneasy about new regulations being imposed on their technology firms by the recently enacted Online Safety Bill.
Brad Smith, Microsoft’s vice chair and president, said his company’s investment marked a ‘new chapter’ in a longstanding economic and political alliance, but made it clear the commitment would ‘expand access’ to ‘trusted American technology’.
He said: “At Microsoft, we’ve had the privilege of being part of this story for more than four decades. And on the eve of President Trump’s state visit hosted by King Charles, Microsoft is proud to reaffirm its deep and enduring commitment to the UK — one that sets a new benchmark for transatlantic technology collaboration.”
He added: “Today, Microsoft is announcing a $30 billion investment we will make in AI infrastructure and ongoing operations across the United Kingdom during the four years from 2025 through 2028. This marks the largest financial commitment we’ve ever made in the UK. It includes $15 billion in capital expenditures to build out the UK’s cloud and AI infrastructure. This investment will enable us to build the country’s largest supercomputer — with more than 23,000 NVIDIA GPUs — in partnership with Nscale.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: “Microsoft’s landmark investment is a powerful vote of confidence in UK’s leadership in AI and cutting-edge technology. This commitment will not only strengthen our digital infrastructure and support thousands of highly skilled jobs, but also ensure Britain remains at the forefront of global innovation as we deliver on our Plan for Change.
“We are proud to partner with world-leading companies like Microsoft to build a future powered by British ingenuity and ambition.”
The company will expand its datacentre footprint to meet growing AI demand and adoption from customers across every sector in the UK — from Barclays, the NHS, the London Stock Exchange Group, the Premier League, Vodafone, UK Met Office, Unilever, and Wayve – customers that are rapidly embracing AI to transform their businesses.
Vodafone has expanded the AI assistant Microsoft Copilot to 68,000 employees worldwide after seeing productivity gains of four hours per week during its pilot. Barclays is rolling out Copilot to 100,000 colleagues and integrating it into its own tools to unlock insights and efficiency, while developers at the London Stock Exchange Group are using GitHub Copilot and Windows 365 to accelerate secure, trusted application development.
The other half of the firm’s investment will support its ongoing operations across the United Kingdom. This includes our workforce of 6,000 employees, located in multiple sites and cities, working on advanced research, AI model development, product development, the creation of new games, and datacentre operations.
The investment also comes following the UK Government’s policy commitments to reform planning, grow electricity capacity, and foster a more stable and open regulatory environment. It is expected that Nscale’s AI Campus in Loughton will be the UK’s largest AI supercomputer when it goes live. The site will deliver 50MW of AI capacity, scalable to 90MW, and will initially house 23,040 NVIDIA GB300 GPUs delivered in Q1 of 2027. This facility will play a vital role in providing Microsoft’s Azure services across the UK, supporting every sector of the economy.
Smith added: “For AI to fully realise its potential, businesses need clarity and predictability in how they can deploy their investments, and people need confidence that these technologies are being developed and deployed responsibly — not just to build trust, but to ensure that those creating and investing in AI have the confidence to continue to do so.”