UK government urges more Silicon Valley firms to set up shop in UK

The UK government is calling for more Silicon Valley tech firms to set up shop in the UK amid the AI boom. The UK is "rewiring” its economy to run on AI, according to the UK technology secretary Peter Kyle, who is calling for closer tech partnerships between the UK and the US.

Speaking at Nvidia’s annual conference in San Jose, Kyle will say:

"In empty factories and abandoned mines, in derelict sites and unused power supplies, I see the places where we can begin to build a new economic model. A model completely rewired around the immense power of artificial intelligence. Where, faced with that power, the state is neither a blocker nor a shirker - but an agile, proactive partner. In Britain, we want to turn the relics of economic eras past into AI growth zones."

During his visit to the US, Kyle will meet with executives from US AI tech firms, including Open AI, Anthropic and Nvidia. The UK government wants more US tech firms to follow Anthropic and OpenAI and set up offices in the UK. However, in a knock to the UK, US VC firm Andreessen Horowitz recently retreated from the UK.

Addressing business leaders, developers, and innovators, the tech secretary will lay out the UK’s vision for how AI and advanced technologies are being put to work to help solve some of the country's most complex shared challenges.

Central to his message is that the UK is ready for AI investment, pointing to the UK’s growth zones, designated areas to ramp up the UK’s AI infrastructure and technology efforts, which were announced as part of the government’s AI Action plan earlier this year.. Kyle is calling for investors, overseas and domestic, to step forward and invest in them.  

Kyle will say:

"There is a real hunger for investment in Britain, and people who are optimistic about the future, and hopeful for the opportunities which AI will bring for them and their families. States owe it to their citizens to support it. Not through diktat or directive, but through partnership."

Recent US investments in the UK include a £12 billion commitment from Vantage Data Centres to expand Britain’s data infrastructure and a government partnership with Anthropic to enhance collaboration on leveraging AI to improve public services nationwide.

In January this year, UK prime minister Keir Starmer laid out the government's plans to use AI across the UK to boost growth and deliver services more efficiently. The AI Opportunities Action Plan is backed by leading tech firms, some of which have committed £14bn towards different projects, creating 13,250 jobs, the government said. However, observers have questioned how much time and investment the UK’s AI plans will require to become a reality.