Nvidia pledges to invest £2 billion to boost AI start-ups in the UK

The world's biggest public company Nvidia announced on Thursday that it would invest £2 billion (€2.3bn) in UK artificial intelligence start-ups.

The pledge comes as a number of other tech firms are also making promises to funnel capital into the country, notably during US President Donald Trump’s trip to the UK. The announcements have turned the nation into the centre of the AI world this week.

During Trump's state visit, the UK has secured a series of investments amounting to £150bn (€172.2bn) spread out across the UK's technology, finance and energy sectors, creating more than 7,600 jobs, according to the government.

Private equity group Blackstone pledged to spend £100bn (€114.8bn) over 10 years, and Microsoft made a £22bn (€25.25bn) commitment.

Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang has been in Britain, too, attending events with the US president along with other Silicon Valley bigwigs.

Among the new initiatives announced, Nvidia has pledged to invest £11bn (€12.6bn) to help build UK AI factories by the end of 2026, with partners including CoreWeave, Microsoft and Nscale. It is also seeking to boost quantum computing in the UK.

The further £2bn the company has just pledged to spend in the country will go towards supporting the start-up ecosystem.

"The new capital will be used to foster economic growth, develop more innovative AI technologies, create new companies and jobs, and empower the UK to compete in the AI market globally," Nvidia said.

The company also noted that scaling AI companies is currently difficult in the country due to "limited access to supercomputing, constrained venture capital (VC) outside London, rising energy costs and difficulty for VCs to access leading academic institutions, where many researchers are also entrepreneurs," it said.

Nvidia is partnering with venture-capital investors Accel, Air Street Capital, Balderton, Hoxton Ventures and Phoenix Court to provide capital and AI infrastructure for start-ups, researchers and developers. The focus is on hubs including London, Oxford, Cambridge and Manchester.