President Trump’s visit to Britain this week is being used by some of America’s biggest tech companies to announce more than $40 billion in investments for artificial intelligence, data centers and other new technologies.
Microsoft said it would invest about $30 billion in Britain over four years, including developing a new supercomputer with the British company Nscale. Google said it was opening a new data center as part of a two-year investment worth about $6.8 billion. OpenAI and the semiconductor company Nvidia are developing a new A.I. data center called Stargate UK with Nscale.
Mr. Trump’s two-day state visit, hosted by King Charles III, is following a similar script as his May trip to the Persian Gulf. In the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, Mr. Trump met with government officials and members of their royal families while helping forge business deals involving American tech companies.
Mr. Trump is expected to be joined in Britain by tech executives, including Satya Nadella of Microsoft and Sam Altman of OpenAI.
This week’s deals strengthen the economic and technological ties between the United States and Britain three months after the countries reached a trade deal. The agreement “marks a generational step change in our relationship with the U.S.,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain said in a statement.
Microsoft, Google and others have been expanding in Europe even as countries in the region become more concerned about dependence on American tech companies for key services. European officials have sought assurances from American firms about the protection of data and the storage of information in data centers in Europe.
British officials said the announcements this week will help create 5,000 jobs and expand research in areas like A.I., quantum computing, drug discovery and nuclear energy. The deals will bring Britain about 120,000 of Nvidia’s advanced semiconductors that are needed for A.I. development, which the government said will be the biggest supply in Europe to date.
Adam Satariano is a technology correspondent for The Times, based in London.
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