Tech giant Microsoft will invest $30bn in the UK’s AI infrastructure in one of the latest announcements from US firms during the state visit of the president.
Announced in a blog post by Microsoft vice-chair and president Brad Smith, the investment, to be made over the next four years, marks the largest financial commitment made by the company to the UK.
The investment includes $15bn in capital expenditures to build out the UK’s cloud and AI infrastructure and will work towards the construction of the country’s largest supercomputer, which will be powered by NVIDIA GPUs and made in partnership with Nscale.
The other half of the investment will go towards Microsoft’s wider operations in the UK, with the firm having 6,000 employees across numerous sites and cities.
“Microsoft’s landmark investment is a powerful vote of confidence in UK’s leadership in AI and cutting-edge technology,” said Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
“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.”
Microsoft’s investment will also expand its data centre footprint to meet the increasing demand of its clients, many of which are adopting compute-intensive AI technologies.
“Our ability to make an investment of this size is based in no small measure on the work the Government is doing to reform planning, grow electricity capacity, and foster a more stable and open regulatory environment,” said Smith.
“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.”
Microsoft’s announcement follows similar infrastructure investments pledged by Google and CoreWeave.
