U.S. companies launching large-scale investments in the UK…about 58 trillion won

NVIDIA, Microsoft, OpenAI and others make large-scale investments

'Technology Prosperity Agreement' signed to cooperate on AI, quantum computing and civil nuclear energy

While the U.S. pressured South Korea and Japan to unilaterally provide money to invest in the U.S., the UK was different.

On the 17th (local time), as President Trump was on a state visit to the UK, major U.S. tech companies such as NVIDIA and Microsoft began investing in the UK. U.S. companies have so far pledged investments of about 31 billion pounds (58.38 trillion won).

According to Reuters, the U.S. and the UK also agreed on a technology agreement to strengthen cooperation in AI, quantum computing and civil nuclear energy. The announced 'Technology Prosperity Agreement' includes joint efforts by the two countries on developing medical AI models, expanding quantum computing capabilities, and streamlining civil nuclear projects.

The United States is the UK's largest trading partner. The UK is, along with Brazil, one of the few countries running a trade deficit with the United States.

According to CNBC, with the UK economy in recession, there are high hopes for this Trump visit. As a result, even the British royal family has been mobilized in a so-called 'tiara diplomacy.' In response, U.S. companies have announced investments in the UK.

NVIDIA said it will deploy 120,000 graphics processing units (GPUs) across the UK. This is the largest scale in Europe.

Microsoft said it will invest a total of 2.2 billion pounds (41.4 trillion won) to expand cloud and AI infrastructure and in a supercomputer to be located in Ruffton, northeast of London.

Google announced a 500 million pound investment, including building a new data center at Wolseom Cross north of London. It also said it will continue to support AI research through DeepMind projects.

Companies including Salesforce, Scale AI, CoreWeave, Oracle, Amazon Web Services, and AI Pathfinder also pledged investments ranging from hundreds of millions to tens of billions of pounds.

OpenAI is set to announce a multi-billion-pound joint investment in a data center in Blyth, Northumberland, started by Quality Technology Services, which is owned by Blackstone. It is also working with UK-based Enscale to deploy up to 60,000 Grace Blackwell Ultra chips. Enscale is collaborating with OpenAI on the UK arm of the U.S. Stargate project and partnering with Microsoft to build the UK's largest AI supercomputer.

UK companies, mainly pharmaceutical firms, have invested in the U.S. primarily to avoid U.S. tariffs.

Pharmaceutical company GSK announced it will invest 30 billion dollars (41.43 trillion won) in U.S. R&D and supply chain infrastructure over the next five years.

GSK said it would expand its U.S. operations as President Trump has threatened to impose high tariffs on imported medicines. This is similar to Sweden's AstraZeneca investing in the U.S. ahead of possible tariffs on pharmaceuticals by the Trump administration.

The company did not say whether the 30 billion dollars included funds already allocated to U.S. operations.

According to Reuters, industry sources said some companies that announced large U.S. investments had inflated figures by including ongoing projects or sites.

GSK had said last year it would invest about 2 billion dollars in U.S. manufacturing.

The large-scale investments by U.S. companies in the UK appear to reflect the UK's urgent need.

Under pressure to rebuild the economy, Prime Minister Keir Starmer is choosing the lighter-touch regulation favored by the U.S. in areas such as AI to attract foreign investment, unlike the more interventionist approach of the European Union. The Trump administration has criticized Europe's online safety laws and digital taxes, including those in the UK, but those issues were not part of the agreement discussions.

Meanwhile, with Trump known to be very fond of the British royal family, the state banquet hosted by the royal family is expected to be attended by NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Apple’s Tim Cook, BlackRock’s Larry Fink, Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman, and others alongside President Trump.

Contributing reporter Jeong-A Kim kja@hankyung.com