On the opening day of London Tech Week 2025, Prime Minister Keir Starmer introduced keynote speaker and NVIDIA chief executive Jensen Huang with an announcement that the $3.5tn firm would be partnering with the UK.
Speaking alongside Starmer and former Darktrace boss turned Investment Minister Poppy Gustafsson, Huang lauded the achievements of the British AI sector, describing the UK as a “fantastic place to invest” and its research ecosystem as the “envy of the world”.
Huang committed on stage to putting the vast resources of his company towards strengthening the UK’s underlying compute infrastructure and improving its pipeline of AI talent, but what does the deal actually commit NVIDIA to?
Working with academia
A large part of the government’s wider technological and economic goals is tapping into the UK’s vast and highly regarded pool of academics to translate research into commercial returns.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) will act as a go-between for NVIDIA and leading universities to promote the adoption of new technologies and the subsequent commercialisation.
Under this collaboration, NVIDIA will support a consortium of universities in using a suite of advanced AI tools and training resources to support research and development.
DSIT also intends to support the convening of British researchers with NVIDIA to share findings and strengthen the country’s voice globally.
Developer Programs
As part of the collaboration, NVIDIA will provide access for UK researchers to its AI Aerial platform – advanced compute infrastructure, simulation tools and training – via its 6G Developer Program and Academic Grant Program.
Through this, the government hopes to encourage the development of new tools, broaden access to simulation and testing technology, build UK-focused data centres and datasets and overall support the AI upskilling of workers.
“This feels like a real step forward. We’ve spent years talking about being a leader in AI, but investing in compute infrastructure, developer training and serious R&D is how we actually start to deliver it,” commented Mark Boost, chief executive of Civo.
“Giving UK developers better access to hands-on training in accelerated computing, AI engineering and model development will help close critical skills gaps and support the next generation of homegrown talent.
“At the same time, building long-term resilience in the UK means looking carefully at our reliance on external compute. As the AI stack becomes more strategic, the UK should be complementing global partnerships with greater investment in local infrastructure, open standards, and technologies we can help shape.”
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