Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has given a ringing endorsement to the UK, noting that it was in a ‘goldilocks circumstance’ for AI, and pledged that he would look to invest in the country.
While heralding the UK as having “one of the richest AI communities anywhere on the planet,” boasting “amazing startups” such as DeepMind, Wayve, Synthesia and ElevenLabs, the Nvidia CEO also warned that the country remains “the largest AI ecosystem in the world without its own infrastructure.”
That lack of infrastructure could threaten the UK’s position in the fight to become a major player in the AI space, something the Labour Government is keen to address. That’s why Huang was joined on stage by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who pledged to boost Britain’s domestic computing capabilities by 20 times and provide £1 billion of investment.
That investment from the Labour Government was followed by a commitment by Nvidia to join the UK Sovereign AI Industry Forum, which will bring together leading businesses to ‘strengthen the nation’s economic security by advancing sovereign AI infrastructure and accelerate the growth of the UK AI startup ecosystem’. The businesses already scheduled to take part in the first forum include Babcock, BAE Systems, BT, National Grid and Standard Chartered, alongside Nvidia.
Infrastructure providers are also committing to spending big on new AI chips from Nvidia, with Nscale and Nebius both agreeing to deploy thousands of Blackwell-class GPUs in new facilities located across the UK. In fact, the two companies have committed to deploying around 14,000 Blackwell GPUs between them, with many expected to come online in stages from early 2026.
The UK’s ‘Goldilocks moment’
The UK Government has made it clear that AI is at the heart of its ‘Plan for Change’. Its AI Growth Zones are designed to relax planning rules to enable the construction of the necessary computing infrastructure that is required to enable the AI revolution – and also address issues surrounding power availability. Those initiatives have clearly caught the eye of Nvidia’s CEO.
Huang described the UK as “an incredible, incredible place to invest,” pledging to invest in the country himself. He highlighted how the UK was already the leading place in Europe for newly funded AI startups and total private AI investment through 2024, and that he expected with the added investment on the infrastructure side, that it will “naturally attract more startups.”
Of course, the UK will need to ensure it has the skills in place to deliver on its promise. Nvidia has pledged to also help out on that front, establishing an Nvidia AI Technology Center in the UK, which will provide hands-on training in AI, data science and accelerated computing with support from the NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute.
