{"id":1206,"date":"2025-09-16T23:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T19:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/microsoft-trumps-google-with-30-billion-investment-in-the-uk\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T23:30:00","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T19:30:00","slug":"microsoft-trumps-google-with-30-billion-investment-in-the-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/microsoft-trumps-google-with-30-billion-investment-in-the-uk\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft\u00a0trumps Google with $30 billion investment in the UK"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tMicrosoft\u2019s former store in London. | Photo: Getty Images\t<\/figcaption><\/p><\/figure>\n

Microsoft is announcing that it\u2019s investing \u00a322 billion<\/a> (around $30 billion) in the UK to help support AI infrastructure and ongoing operations from 2025 through 2028. The investment includes $15 billion in capital expenditures to build a supercomputer to support AI demand and adoption.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will account for more than two-thirds of the tech sector\u2019s total investment announcements in the UK that are being made this week,\u201d says Microsoft vice chair and president Brad Smith in a press briefing attended by The Verge<\/em>. \u201cWe\u2019re focused on British pounds, not empty tech promises, because it\u2019s easy to have big numbers, but we\u2019ll be good for every cent of this investment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith is clearly referencing Google\u2019s own investment of \u00a35 billion (around $6.8 billion) that it announced earlier today to help power the UK\u2019s AI efforts. Smith says Microsoft\u2019s latest UK investment is a \u201cvery substantial increase\u201d over its previous investment<\/a> in 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis investment will enable us to build the country\u2019s largest supercomputer \u2014 with more than 23,000 advanced GPUs \u2014 in partnership with Nscale,\u201d says Smith. \u201cWe\u2019re not just investing in the UK, we\u2019re investing with partners in the UK. It includes the data centers we have today and an expansion of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Microsoft\u2019s multibillion-dollar investments in the UK come on the same day President Donald Trump arrives in Britain for a second state visit, in what\u2019s meant to be seen as a clear collaboration between the US and UK. Smith told reporters that the investment wasn\u2019t requested by the Trump administration, but it\u2019s clearly been well timed on the UK government side.<\/p>\n

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The announcement is a big change from Microsoft\u2019s issues with the UK only a few years ago. Smith openly criticized<\/a> the UK\u2019s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)\u00a0during Microsoft\u2019s giant Activision Blizzard acquisition in 2023. Smith said his confidence in the UK had been \u201cseverely shaken\u201d after the CMA originally blocked Microsoft\u2019s giant gaming deal, and even said \u201cthe European Union is a more attractive place to start a business\u201d than the UK. Smith later described the regulator<\/a> as \u201ctough and fair\u201d last year, and said he \u201cmight choose slightly different words\u201d to make his point about the CMA.<\/p>\n

Smith praised both former Prime Minster Rishi Sunak\u2019s and Prime Minister Keir Starmer\u2019s governments during his briefing with reporters today. \u201cOur ability to make an investment of this size is based in no small measure on the work the government is doing to reform planning, grow electricity capacity, and foster a more stable and open regulatory environment,\u201d says Smith.<\/p>\n

Google is also opening a new data center<\/a> in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, that Chancellor Rachel Reeves calls<\/a> a \u201cpowerful vote of confidence in the UK economy and the strength of our partnership with the US.\u201d Microsoft managed to one-up Google and get Starmer to comment on its own investment, and he also called it \u201ca powerful vote of confidence in UK\u2019s leadership in AI and cutting-edge technology.\u201d<\/p>\n

The other half of Microsoft\u2019s $30 billion investment will be used to support the company\u2019s ongoing operations across the UK, including its 6,000 employees that are based in Britain. Microsoft did close<\/a> its 21,000-square-foot store in the heart of London earlier this year, but the company still holds offices at Microsoft Research in Cambridge, the Microsoft UK headquarters in Reading, Microsoft AI in London, and elsewhere.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Microsoft\u2019s former store in London. | Photo: Getty Images Microsoft is announcing that it\u2019s investing \u00a322 billion (around $30 billion) […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-classe"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1206\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.actutech.app\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}