An average of £200 million in private sector investment has been funnelled into the UK’s world leading AI sector a day since the new government took office last summer – an average of more than £8.3 million every hour – fuelling the Plan for Change to fix the foundations of the economy.

More than £14 billion pounds worth of investment into the UK and thousands of new jobs have been confirmed in just 48 hours since the AI Opportunities Action Plan was published, as companies from around the world back Britain’s new blueprint to ensure it can fully realise the opportunities of artificial intelligence.

It follows £25 billion worth of new investment into the UK’s data centre infrastructure announced at the Global Investment Summit earlier this year, bringing the total to £39 billion in the last six months.

Cementing the UK’s position as the global destination for AI, a wave of global companies have put their weight behind the UK’s new vision for the technology which was unveiled by the Prime Minister and Technology Secretary on Monday.  

In a move to bolster our AI infrastructure, American AI cloud-computing company CoreWeave has set to work using cutting edge NVIDIA technology to ramp up the UK’s compute capacity – a key pillar of the government’s new vision for AI. They are doing this at their Data Centre sites in Crawley and London Docklands – their first bases in the UK – rolling out a new compute platform by delivering state-of-the-art processors through its specialized cloud platform, purpose-built to provide highly performant and efficient infrastructure for AI workloads. This has opened up a new world of processing power to Britain’s innovators, and follows the company’s decision to base its European Headquarters in London and invest £1.75 billion into the UK in 2024.

Putting the right building blocks in place to help British companies scale up and become AI leaders is also central to the new blueprint set out by the government. Synthesia – a London based company which is the market leader in software for AI-generated video content – are the latest to be riding this wave of momentum with a successful funding round which has seen their value swell to $2.1 billion. This investment will support Synthesia’s growth and expansion ambitions, as it aims to become one of Britain’s most valuable AI companies.

Secretary of State for Science, Technology, and Innovation, Peter Kyle said:

This week we begin a new chapter – putting AI in the driving seat to power the government’s Plan for Change and deliver better lives for everyone in the country.

The steps we’re taking forward from Matt Clifford’s AI Opportunities Action Plan represent a step change in how the UK manages this technology – unlocking a fresh start for our economy and for working people.

By attracting more than £14 billion in new investment and thousands of fresh jobs since unveiling our new blueprint from companies across the globe, the message is clear – the UK’s pull as a magnet for AI innovation and growth will only go from strength to strength.

Supporting the government’s laser-focus of spreading the benefits of AI across the economy, Tech Nation – part of Founders Forum group – Merantix, and Onfido Founder Husayn Kassai, in partnership with Techspace, have also committed today to launching a new dedicated AI hub in London. The London AI Hub will serve as a new epicentre for collaboration and innovation based in Farringdon. Creating a vital focal point for AI innovators to come together and collaborate, companies are now set to move into the Hub from next month.

In an announcement earlier this week, one of our leading home-grown success stories Nscale also committed to delivering a $2.5 billion investment to support the UK’s data centre infrastructure over the next three years. Deepening their commitment even further, they have also put pen to paper on a contract to build the largest UK sovereign AI data centre in Loughton, Essex by 2026. The site is expected to be up and running in late 2026, unlocking more than 750 jobs during its construction and a further 250 permanent roles which will then drive forward its work – delivering new opportunities for people across the region. 

Further support has also come from Vantage Data Centers, who are committed to continuing to expand their footprint in the UK, with a more than £12 billion funding commitment which will deliver 11,500 jobs across the UK and will meet the growing demand for cloud-based services and technology.

In a further jobs boost, French AI giant Mistral also unveiled plans last week to make the UK their home from home with a new office in London – its first European base outside France – with plans to double its UK workforce by the end of 2025. Kyndryl – the world’s largest IT infrastructure services provider and a leading IT consultancy – has also announced plans to create up to 1,000 AI-related jobs in Liverpool over the next three years. This new tech hub will share the government’s ambition to roll AI out across the country to help grow the economy and foster the next generation of talent.

Setting out a plan to turbocharge AI on Monday (13 January), the Prime Minister committed to harnessing the technology to turbocharge growth and boost living standards to deliver on the government’s Plan for Change. Every lever of the state has now swung into action to deliver on the 50 proposals from AI entrepreneur Matt Clifford’s AI Opportunities Action Plan, with a singular focus on making the UK a magnet for firms looking to invest, scale, and grow their businesses.

The plan includes initiatives that will help make the UK the number one place for AI firms to invest, which is vital if Britain is to be at the forefront of this industry and be a change-maker rather than a change-taker.

Further Information

• The Vantage Data Centres anticipated investment, some of which is subject to planning permission and agreed connection timelines, is expected to support over 10,000 local construction jobs over the next decade, and create over 1,500 operational roles at its data centres.

• Read about the UK’s new blueprint for AI.