Tech Prosperity Deal: A Breakdown
The news has recently been filled with stories of Donald Trump’s 2nd state visit to the UK, the first time any US president had been invited for a second visit. Over roughly 24 hours from his arrival on the 17th of September to the morrow, he was entertained with pomp, pageantry, and parade, getting the largest honour guard ever afforded to a state visitor, with 1300 personnel from across the military taking part. But Donald Trump brought present to the party, one that Kier Starmer was eyeing up voraciously, in the form of the “tech bros.” At his meeting on the 18th with the PM, he and Starmer agreed to a new tech prosperity deal, a deal trumpeted in the media as a water shed moment for Britain, who was in dire need of good news. Many eye watering figures and famous names were thrown around, such as Nvidia, £150 billion, Microsoft investing £22 billion, £31 billion, but what do the figures mean? In this article we will break down the total sums, from the top down to each company’s investment. So, how good was this deal, and what did we give in return?
Let us start with the big one. Microsoft pledged to invest £22 billion into AI across Britain, mostly though into a supercomputer called Stargate in Loughton, Essex. This computer, which is being built with help from UK AI infrastructure provider, OpenAI and Nvidia, that will a vital role in providing Microsoft’s Azure services for the UK1. Azure is a service by Microsoft that enhances businesses by helping run apps, store data and more. Nvidia (more on their contribution later) provided 23040 GPUs for the supercomputer, while OpenAI provided knowledge and expertise in the field of AI while Nscale is building the facility alongside Microsoft. It will provide 50MW of AI power, equating to 90MW3 of normal power. Microsoft if investing £15 billion into building the supercomputer4 .
NVIDIA s another major contributor to this package. Though less of a household name, this company had gone from being worth 0.04 USD, it has grown to its market cap being 4.5 trillion USD4. The reason why it is worth so much is its product, it is the largest designer of GPUs in the world, especially ones custom built for AI. Any AI deal needs their expertise to provide optimal performance and quality. It’s CEO Jensen Haung made big noise at the state visit , saying that “if you want to get rich invest in the UK5,” and the first UK company to be Valued at trillion USD would be an AI company
NVIDIA has pledged £11 billion pounds into UK AI factories alongside Nscale and CoreWeave. They also want to scale up 300000 Grace Blackwell GPUs world wide, with 60000 in the UK alone. The are NVIDIA’s most advanced AI microchip. Released in 2024, it is significantly faster than its predecessor the Hopper and it is valued per unit between $30,000 to $40,0006. NVIDIA is also providing the GPUs for Stargate, as well as other AI factories7. They are a major face in the AI revolution in Britain, if not in pure capital invested, then in the one unchangeable product needed for the other projects, the GPU.
Google, another big name, has pledged £5 billion pounds over two years8 including in a new data center in Hertfordshire. What isn’t spent on that we be invested into other projects like development of DeepMind, an AI research laboratory focusing on creating more advanced AI models. The new centre will help meet rising demand for google services like cloud, maps and more. The money will also be used to create 82508 new jobs in the area of AI in Britain.
How Much Was This Deal Worth For The UK?
Interpretations of how much this deal is worth vary massively, from £42 billion up to £250 billion, depending on what is counted as part of the deal. TIME has claimed that the deal is worth £250 billion pounds, following a quote from Kier Starmer “what a day, £250 billion flowing both ways across the Atlantic,” the reason this quote is so high is because it counted other US investment companies like Blackstone, who did £90 billion9, investing in data centres across the UK, although they are investment firms and not the actual AI companies. Reuters, and other websites disagree, saying that it is £31 billion pounds. It counts the £22 billion Microsoft, £5 billion google and 120,000 GPUs from NVIDIA investments10. This is different from the £11 billion investment I said NVIDIA invested, but an important note is these calculations differ on what people believe count, for it is possible that the NVIDIA investments overlap with previous made ones, or other companies.
What Did Britain Get In Return?
On the surface, not much is being given back to the US in terms of capital, but many experts have warned what this partnership would really entail. Former deputy PM Nick Clegg argues that many of the projects “gifted” to us were “sloppy seconds” from silicon, and that it risks binding us to the US as Technology vassals10 (we have promised to work alongside them in many technological areas.) Tech Policy Press follows up11, saying that the UK will not have a sovereign tech sector, just one that reaps profits for American companies. All breakthroughs we make will just be passed on to America
Conclusion
The tech prosperity deal promises a lot in this field of technology, the combined resources of two G7 countries can do great things, so this promises to facilitate a vast amount of cooperation between the two. For the UK, new data centres promise to help improve internet and AI capacity for businesses and people alike, for little. However, this agreement ties us to the US, helping the tech bros reap huge profits from dampened regulation in a huge market, a condition of the deal. From a science standpoint, this could speed up the development of AI and in western hands as well, rather than rivals such as China, but it risks our techno sovereignty being the price.
Bibliography
1. Times of India. (2023, September 30). Microsoft and ChatGPT-maker OpenAI plan $100 billion AI supercomputer ‘Stargate’. The Times of India. Retrieved from https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/technology/tech-news/microsoft-and-chatgpt-maker-openai-plan-100-billion-ai-supercomputer-stargate/articleshow/108889439.cms
2. (2025, September 17) Nscale announces UK AI infrastructure commitment in partnership with Microsoft, NVIDIA and OpenAI. Nscale. https://www.nscale.com/press-releases/nscale-uk-ai-infrastructure-announcement
3. GlobeNewswire press release “Nscale announces UK AI infrastructure commitment in partnership with Microsoft, NVIDIA and OpenAI
4. (2025, September 30). Nvidia’s market cap tops $4.5 trillion on AI infrastructure deals. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/30/nvidias-market-cap-tops-4point5-trillion-on-ai-infrastructure-deals.html
5. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says ‘if you want to get rich, invest in the UK’ amid £150bn US tech deal. The Telegraph. September 18, 2025.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/520d51d9b8f451ca
6. Nvidia Blackwell GPU: R&D Costs and Pricing $30,000 to $40,000 for just the GPU. September 2025. https://www.guru3d.com/story/nvidia-blackwell-gpu-costs-and-pricing-to-for-just-the-gpu/
7. NVIDIA Investor Relations. 2025. https://investor.nvidia.com/news/press-release-details/2025/NVIDIA-and-United-Kingdom-Build-Nations-AI-Infrastructure-and-Ecosystem-to-Fuel-Innovation-Economic-Growth-and-Jobs/default.aspx
8. Our new Waltham Cross data centre is part of our two-year, £5 billion investment to help power the UK’s AI economy. Google Blog UK. September 2025. https://blog.google/around-the-globe/google-europe/united-kingdom/waltham-cross-data-centre/
9. Trump and Starmer Sign ‘Groundbreaking’ Billion‑Dollar U.K.‑U.S. Tech Prosperity Deal. TIME. September 16, 2025. https://time.com/7318214/trump-starmer-us-uk-tech-prosperity-deal-signed/
10. Killeen, P. (2025, September 19). Tech Prosperity Deal? It’s just ‘sloppy seconds from Silicon Valley’. BusinessCloud. https://businesscloud.co.uk/news/tech-prosperity-deal-its-just-sloppy-seconds-from-silicon-valley/
11. Pohle, J. (2024, September 26). ‘Tech Prosperity Deal’ binds UK to US AI dominance strategy. Tech Policy Press. https://www.techpolicy.press/tech-prosperity-deal-binds-uk-to-us-ai-dominance-strategy
