British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Jensen Huang, chief executive officer of the US semiconductor giant NVIDIA, jointly announced an important AI-based facility cooperation plan during this year's London Tech Week. Nvidia will deploy up to 120,000 newest Blackwell Ultra GPUs in the UK, Europe's largest artificial intelligence (AI)-based facility construction planned to be completed by the end of 2026 with a total investment of approximately US$1.5 billion. This huge investment is supported and operated by partners such as Nscale, CoreWeave and Micro, and OpenAI will also take advantage of the computing power resources provided by these newly built devices.
Nvidia has designed this as a core basic facility similar to a modern power network, emphasizing the importance of the UK promoting "ownership AI", that is, it is necessary to have autonomously controlled computing hardware and data resources locally. David Hogan, vice president of Nvidia's European, Central and African Enterprises, pointed out that the $1.5 billion investment is the largest single AI-based facility investment in the history of the UK's technology industry, and will significantly promote the UK's position in the global AI economy.
In this project, Nscale is responsible for the deployment of approximately 60,000 Blackwell Ultra GPUs, while CoreWeave and Micro will be responsible for the construction and operation of their remaining facilities, and these facilities will be connected to green renewable energy to achieve sustainable development goals. Nvidia's total investment includes land, power, facility construction and operation costs, with a total scale of approximately US$15 billion, ensuring that this is the purchase and deployment of a brand new GPU, rather than the simple allocation of existing resources.
In addition, Nvidia plans to establish a number of "AI factories" in the UK. These factories will become a foundation for supporting a complete ecosystem that includes advanced AI models such as OpenAI, and cooperate with the "AI Growth Area" policy designated by the British government to promote the development of AI in scientific research, industry and public departments. This infrastructure plan also includes a collaboration with Nscale and Micro to establish the UK's largest supercomputer. Some facilities will be located in Sugland, leveraging the rich local renewable energy resources to improve the environmental benefits of operations.
These AI factories will provide secure and expandable local computing capabilities for new British enterprises, medical institutions, banks and public institutions, realize the transformation of AI applications from trial points to production stages, and further cultivate the UK's AI ecosystem and high-level talents. In order to promote the integration of the biotechnology system, Nvidia also established the "UK Sovereign AI Industry Forum" to cooperate with British companies such as BAE Systems, BT, and Standard Chartered to jointly promote the development of domestic AI technology.
Although Nvidia's role is important in this construction, and its specific investment returns and business model have not yet been fully published, this investment is expected to significantly expand the computing capabilities of British AI and support London's upcoming technical expansion and AI talent training. The British government also promised to increase its AI computing capabilities by 20 times by 2030, and invest about US$1.35 billion in AI research infrastructure, strengthening the UK's position as the world's leading AI country.
Nvidia helps the U.K. wire up Europe’s biggest AI chip cluster NVIDIA and United Kingdom Build Nation’s AI Infrastructure and Ecosystem to Fuel Innovation, Economic Growth and Jobs Nvidia, OpenAI to spend billions on UK DCs: Report UK AI Infrastructure Set for Major Boost as NVIDIA and OpenAI Consider Multi-Billion Dollar Investment Extended reading: Trump visits UK, technology giants such as Micro and NVIDIA announce investment in the UK