The CEOs of OpenAI and Nvidia plan to back a multi-billion pound investment in UK data centres next week. The strategic move, which is being made in partnership with London-based Nscale Global Holdings, is designed to meet the growing demand for computing power driven by the growth of artificial intelligence.
Sam Altman, chief executive of OpenAI, and Jensen Huang, founder of Nvidia, are to appear in person in the UK to publicise the new venture. The investment highlights the key role that specialised infrastructure plays in the generative AI era.
Today’s language models and other artificial intelligence systems require vast energy and computing resources, making data centres a strategic element in global technological competition.
The choice of Nscale Global Holdings as a partner is no coincidence. The company, although relatively new, is positioning itself as a specialist infrastructure provider for AI, with an emphasis on building facilities powered by renewable energy.
The UK company has previously announced plans to invest £2 billion in the UK.
The investment announcement coincides with US President Donald Trump’s visit to the UK, where a wider delegation of US business is expected to announce a number of investment projects.
For the London government, which has long stated ambitions to make the country an ‘AI superpower’, the influx of capital and technology from industry leaders such as OpenAI and Nvidia provides significant support for this strategy. The move is part of the government’s plans to facilitate the construction of data centres, which have been identified as state-critical infrastructure.
The collaboration of technology giants signals further consolidation of the supply chain for artificial intelligence – from chip designers (Nvidia) to model developers (OpenAI) to physical infrastructure operators.
As the demand for AI resources grows exponentially, access to efficient and stable data centres becomes as important as the algorithms themselves.
