CoreWeave and Salesforce are among the latest US technology companies committing substantial investments to the UK’s burgeoning artificial intelligence (AI) sector, coinciding with the state visit of US President Donald Trump. CoreWeave, which offers cloud computing services geared towards AI model development, has announced an additional $1.5 billion phase of its £2.5 billion investment dedicated to AI data centre capacity and operations within the UK. This expansion aims to support AI labs, enterprises, public sector bodies, research institutions, and startups by providing advanced AI infrastructure and generating new jobs in engineering, operations, and related fields. Michael Intrator, CoreWeave’s co-founder, chairman, and CEO, stated that the company’s investment would help establish one of the world’s largest concentrations of sustainable, high-performance compute resources to spur innovation, economic growth, and scientific discovery.

This latest phase involves a partnership with Nvidia and Scottish data centre firm DataVita, deploying Nvidia GPUs powered entirely by renewable energy and cooled using advanced closed-loop water-saving technology. CoreWeave first entered the UK market earlier this year with two data centres, marking its first expansion outside the US, and it now operates its European headquarters in London.

In parallel, Salesforce, despite having reduced its UK workforce by over 450 jobs earlier in 2024, has pledged to increase its UK investments to $6 billion through 2030. This extends a prior $4 billion commitment made in 2023 and cements the UK as Salesforce's regional AI hub. The expanded investment includes new research and development teams and the establishment of its inaugural AI Centre in London, alongside backing for UK firms active in AI development. Salesforce chair and CEO Marc Benioff highlighted the company's deepening commitment to the UK market, where it has operated for nearly 25 years.

These corporate moves form part of a wider wave of American tech investments announced during President Trump’s visit, underscoring a strategic bilateral push to enhance UK-US cooperation in cutting-edge technologies. A landmark $42 billion “Tech Prosperity Deal” was unveiled, featuring major commitments across AI, quantum computing, and civil nuclear energy sectors. Microsoft leads this surge with a £22 billion pledge for expanding cloud and AI infrastructure, including building Britain’s largest AI supercomputer. Other heavyweight players such as Google, Oracle, Amazon Web Services, and Nvidia have also announced billions of dollars in investments aimed at infrastructure upgrades and AI research acceleration.

Google alone has committed £5 billion ($6.8 billion) to the UK, launching a new data centre near London designed to support soaring demand for AI-driven services across its cloud offerings. This initiative is expected to create more than 8,000 jobs annually within British enterprises and features environmentally conscious designs including air cooling and heat redistribution technologies. Google’s partnership with Shell further supports the UK’s energy transition goals, with the firm projecting 95% of its UK operations will run on carbon-free energy by 2026.

Meanwhile, CoreWeave recently secured a $6.3 billion agreement with Nvidia, guaranteeing Nvidia will buy any unsold cloud computing capacity from the company through 2032. This contract offers CoreWeave financial security amid fluctuating AI demand and strengthens its position as a critical cloud partner for Nvidia. CoreWeave also has a separate multibillion-dollar deal with OpenAI that extends to 2029, underscoring the firm’s expanding role in supplying GPU-powered infrastructure for large-scale AI training and inference.

Further investments are coming from OpenAI and Nvidia, which, along with UK data centre firm Nscale Global Holdings, are poised to announce billion-dollar projects supporting the UK's AI infrastructure expansion. Such collaborations form part of a broader push to develop sovereign AI capabilities among US allies, as reflected in other global initiatives across the Gulf region and Europe. Financial investors like BlackRock are also entering the space, planning a £500 million investment in UK data centre infrastructure, highlighting the growing appetite for digital infrastructure driven by AI and cloud computing advances.

Taken together, these developments signify a major commitment from US tech giants and investors to the UK’s AI ecosystem, coupled with governmental support reflecting strategic economic and geopolitical priorities. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has welcomed these deals as vital to securing long-term prosperity and revitalising economic growth amid competitive global forces. The agreements also signal the UK’s preference for a more US-style, light-touch regulatory environment over the more interventionist EU approach, aiming to attract and retain high-value global technology investments.

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Source: Noah Wire Services