At the opening of London Tech Week, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced a bold £1 billion commitment to supercharge the UK’s computing power—part of a long-term ambition to position Britain as a serious global force in artificial intelligence and next-generation technology.

The announcement sets a clear tone: the UK wants to be more than just a hub of bright minds and breakthrough ideas. It wants to back those ambitions with hardware muscle.

This investment isn’t just about chips and servers, Starmer told a packed room of entrepreneurs and tech leaders. “It’s about trust. It's about building the confidence that Britain is the place where innovation isn’t just welcomed—it’s enabled.”

But not everyone is convinced the infrastructure is ready to keep pace. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, one of the tech world’s most influential voices, praised the UK’s AI talent and ambition but didn’t hold back on a key shortfall. “If you’re doing AI, you need to do machine learning. And you can’t do machine learning without machines,” he said.

His point? The UK might have the brains and the vision—but it's still short on the horsepower.

Huang’s comments came in discussions with Starmer and Baroness Gustafsson, the newly appointed minister for investment, where he stressed the importance of building AI supercomputers within the UK. Not just to meet demand, but to draw in the kind of start-ups and global investments that thrive on robust infrastructure.

The funding will factor into Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s upcoming spending review and ties into plans for "AI growth zones"—special areas designed to fast-track planning approvals and provide clean energy to data centres, a major requirement for running large-scale AI systems.

These zones could be a game-changer, offering a fast lane for tech expansion in a country often slowed down by red tape and energy grid constraints.

The AI strategy laid out by the government earlier this year promised a blueprint for the national AI backbone within six months. Today’s announcement is a first major milestone in that journey.

Investors and founders have long called for more than just policy gestures. They want fast networks, reliable energy, and serious computing power. As one founder in the audience put it: “Great minds need great machines. Otherwise, we’re just drawing race cars on paper.”

For now, the message is clear: Britain wants to be the go-to destination for AI innovation, and it’s finally willing to bet big on the infrastructure to match.

The details on how—and how fast—this ambition will materialize are now in the hands of the Chancellor. The tech world will be watching closely when the full spending plans drop later this week.