Donald Trump’s arrival in the UK brought with it a wave of UK–US technology deals, headlined by the UK Government’s new Tech Prosperity Deal and a string of big-ticket investments.
Together, they promise to accelerate breakthroughs in drug discovery, clean energy and AI infrastructure – backed by more than £31bn in private sector commitments from Microsoft, Google, Nvidia and OpenAI.
Industry leaders told TechInformed that while the scale of investment is welcome, it may be carefully managed to ensure balance and lasting benefits for British businesses.
Opportunities and risks for UK start-ups
Government ministers spoke of a “golden age” for AI and quantum technologies. Industry voices across the UK, however, while enthusiastic about the scale of investment, are wary of imbalances that could leave British companies one below their US counterparts.
Chris Davison, chief executive of AI start-up NavLive, said the growing investment into the sector was “fantastic news” for British innovators.
“These funds not only validate the strength of the UK tech ecosystem but also create space for new solutions that can challenge established norms,” he said.
But others noted the risks of disproportionate US dominance. Allan Kaye, co-founder of Manchester-based data centre infrastructure firm Vespertec, welcomed the “unprecedented level of transatlantic AI collaboration” but urged policymakers to ensure UK businesses shared equally in the benefits.
“Amongst the promises of OpenAI’s Stargate and huge public sector projects being given to US hyperscalers, British businesses and policymakers must make sure that UK companies are benefitting as much as American companies,” he said.
Data centres under scrutiny
The deal has put data centres in the spotlight. Alongside the deal, Microsoft announced plans to invest $30bn into UK AI infrastructure between 2025 and 2028, which it claims will enable it to build the country’s largest supercomputer in partnership with British AI infrastructure company Nscale.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that the investment will ensure “Britain remains at the forefront of global innovation.”
Konstantin Hartmann, EMEA managing director at NTT Global Data Centres, said the UK was a logical location for large-scale deployments: “The UK makes sense for these levels of investment given its position as a global connectivity hub, deep AI research ecosystem, and strong enterprise demand,” he noted.
But he warned that new builds would face scrutiny: “As the industry scales to meet this demand, sustainability must remain front and centre.”
Hyperscalers double down on UK AI
Oracle also used the visit to announce an expansion of its £5bn UK investment plan, focused on delivering AI infrastructure to government and defence organisations through the Oracle UK Sovereign Cloud.
The initiative will see new genAI capabilities rolled out to UK government agencies and NATO, which it claims will allow sensitive workloads to be run without compromising national security.
Oracle chief executive Safra Catz said it aims to “support the critical missions of government and defence organisations in the UK and NATO member states throughout Europe.”
Salesforce also revealed plans to invest $6bn in its UK business through 2030, extending a previous $4bn commitment made in 2023 and building on London’s role as home to its first AI Centre.
Marc Benioff, chair and chief executive, said the UK would become Salesforce’s European hub for AI product innovation.
“We’re delighted that the UK, already a vital talent and innovation centre, will become our AI hub for Europe, driving product innovation for customers across the region.”
Matt Harris, senior vice president and managing director for Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the UK, Ireland, Middle East and Africa, also welcomed the UK-US agreement.
“It’s fantastic to see the UK and US sign their first-ever tech agreement, investing billions to boost the UK’s AI infrastructure and speed up world-leading AI research,” he said.
“To secure long-term competitiveness, the UK must invest in sovereign AI data centres and national supercomputing capabilities, to realise its ambition to be an ‘AI maker, not an AI taker’.”
Governance and regulation
Beyond infrastructure, executives also emphasised governance.
Chris Newton-Smith, chief executive of cybersecurity company IO, said the promise of AI in fields such as cancer treatment could only be realised if accompanied by “globally recognised governance frameworks”.
“Governance is not a brake on innovation – it connects information security, privacy, and AI,” he said.
Plus, Megha Kumar, chief product officer at British cybersecurity firm CyXcel, said collaboration would serve both economic and diplomatic interests but warned of potential conflicts.
“The UK has a strong political constituency that favours AI-related safety, but the White House position on that is less clear,” she said, adding that differences between the UK’s GDPR and US data regimes could also complicate cross-border projects involving sensitive personal data.
Turning investment into strategy
For policy analysts, the question is how to turn billions in corporate commitments into long-term value.
Sam Robinson, head of AI at the British political public policy think-tank Social Market Foundation, called the investment “a massive step forward” but warned that infrastructure alone is insufficient.
“The key priority now will be translating this into lasting economic and strategic value for the UK – and promoting national policy missions for the public good,” he said.
The government has promised that the North East will emerge as an “AI Growth Zone”, with Nscale also partnering with Nvidia and OpenAI to deploy advanced computing power.
Kaye of Vespertec stressed that ensuring that such initiatives deliver benefits to UK firms – rather than acting primarily as staging grounds for US hyperscalers – will be the true test of the pact.
