US tech giants have pledged more than £31 billion in fresh UK investment as part of a landmark “Tech Prosperity Deal” signed during President Donald Trump’s second state visit to Britain.
The agreement, framed as the first ever UK–US technology pact, brings together ambitions in artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and nuclear power—with promises of tens of thousands of new jobs and regional economic renewal.
However, the investment sparked fresh concerns over digital sovereignty, governance and energy use, with the government’s former data officer warning today that the UK was in danger of “laying the foundations of other countries’ successful technologies.”
The headline announcement came from Microsoft, which confirmed a £22 billion ($30bn) programme of investment over four years.
Chief among the projects is the country’s largest-ever supercomputer, to be built in Loughton, Essex, in partnership with British infrastructure firm Nscale.
That site had been floated earlier in the year by the UK government, but the involvement of Microsoft marks a major new financial and technical commitment.
“We are doubling down on our investment in the UK, investing more than $30 billion over four years, including building the country’s largest supercomputer,” said Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s chairman and CEO.
Nadella told the BBC on Radio 4’s Today programme this morning that Britain’s sluggish economy could see a significant productivity lift from these investments: “You can never predict when it will happen. It may happen faster than 10 years, maybe five—but there’s no shortcutting the time for diffusion. And organisations will need to change the processes that adjust to these new levels of productivity.”
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Pressed on whether the UK risked losing data sovereignty in the face of US ownership of its digital backbone, Nadella insisted: “We are making investments on UK soil. AI factories, cloud factories that are very much part of UK infrastructure. You have trust in US tech to create more tech for the UK, US and the world.”
And when asked about the energy consumption of new data centres, Nadella argued that the benefits outweighed the concerns: “When there are better education outcomes or healthcare or public sector more efficient, small businesses more productive, multinationals more competitive—that is the ultimate social rationale. The growth is high, but [these are] probably the most efficient uses of energy in terms of the surplus it creates.”
Regional spread
While Essex is set to host the country’s most powerful computer, other parts of Britain are also in line for significant investment. The North East will see the creation of a new AI Growth Zone, expected to deliver more than 5,000 jobs as Nscale, OpenAI and NVIDIA partner on the infrastructure partnership dubbed “Stargate UK”
The North East is a region much in need of investment following the failure of a UK government-backed gigafactory Britvolt at Blythe, Northumberland in 2023.
Significantly, as part of the announcement, Northumberland has become the beneficiary of a £10bn Blackstone funds investment in one of Europe’s largest hyperscale data centre facilities.
Elsewhere, Hertfordshire will host Google’s new £5bn data centre at Waltham Cross, officially opened this week. The project includes major funding for London-based DeepMind and will expand AI-focused R&D across the country.
Scotland, meanwhile, will benefit from CoreWeave’s £1.5bn investment in AI data centre capacity, delivered with local partner DataVita while Northamptonshire will host AI infrastructure as part of domestic commitments worth more than £1bn.
The government’s press release cast the pact as a “generational step change.” UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the deal would “shape the futures of millions of people on both sides of the Atlantic, and deliver growth, security and opportunity up and down the country.”
Safety and sovereignty fears
Despite the multibillion-pound sugar rush and political triumphalism, industry voices warned of risks around governance, accountability and long-term sustainability as US big tech ploughs onwards in pursuit of innovation and AI dominance.
Bill Conner, CEO of Jitterbit and former advisor to Interpol and GCHQ, cautioned against the rush to deregulate amid: “the competitive AI arms race”.
Bill Conner, president and CEO at Jitterbit
“Investing in AI is critically important, but overly aggressive policy cannot compromise AI accountability, transparency and data privacy. To lead in AI, governments must lead with principles. Responsible AI governance isn’t a side note—it’s the foundation of lasting global influence.”
Conner cautioned that trust and transparency must be built into AI infrastructure: “This isn’t only a global AI arms race for processing power or chip dominance. It’s a test of trust, transparency, and interoperability at scale… Without clear accountability frameworks, exporting AI risks creating vulnerabilities—turning a strategic asset into a liability, particularly when adversarial actors are quick to exploit weaknesses or manipulate systems to their advantage.”
The energy footprint of AI has also become a pressing issue. Data centres are already among the fastest-growing energy users worldwide, and the UK is preparing for a significant spike in demand.
Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat stressed that Google’s Hertfordshire site would use air-cooling systems rather than water, with surplus heat captured and reused in schools and homes.
Google has also pledged that its UK operations will run on “95% carbon-free energy,” largely through renewable contracts with Shell.
Elsewhere campaigners and some former UK officials question whether Britain risks building the infrastructure for US firms to profit while leaving UK taxpayers and consumers to foot the bill for the electricity and grid upgrades.
Mike Bracken, the former head and founder of the UK Government’s Digital Service warned in the Financial Times yesterday that the UK could end up “laying the foundations of other countries’ successful technologies.”
Trump’s state visit
The scale of the announcements was deliberately timed to coincide with Trump’s state visit, which also saw agreements on civil nuclear power and quantum technology collaboration.
As the CEO of Microsoft confirmed with the BBC that he was dusting down his suit to prepare for a Windsor Castle visit to meet the King as part of Trump’s state visit, a “special relationship” is now being reshaped around digital infrastructure, AI and other advances.
Whether the £31bn investment in foreign money will translate into the promised 10% productivity boost is less certain. In his conversation with the BBC, Nadella himself cautioned that real-world adoption takes time.
As the UK braces for an AI-driven future, questions about sovereignty, energy security, and governance may prove just as critical as the pounds and dollars flowing in.
