US chipmaker Nvidia will invest £2 billion to support the UK’s artificial intelligence sector, in a move CEO Jensen Huang described as a “major vote of confidence” in Britain’s ability to compete in the global AI race.

The investment, announced in London on Thursday, will be deployed in partnership with a group of venture capital firms including Accel, Air Street Capital, Balderton Capital, Hoxton Ventures and Phoenix Court. Nvidia said the capital would be “domiciled in the US and activated in the UK,” providing startups with both funding and access to the company’s computing power.

As part of the initiative, Nvidia confirmed it will invest in fintech giant Revolut, autonomous vehicle developers Wayve and Oxa, and AI startups PolyAI, Synthesia, Latent Labs and Basecamp Research. Wayve separately announced that Nvidia will take a $500 million stake to accelerate its self-driving technology.

The overall £2 billion figure also includes a £500 million equity investment in British AI data centre company Nscale, which Nvidia unveiled on Wednesday. Nscale, a little-known firm spun out of a crypto mining business just 16 months ago, is partnering with Nvidia and OpenAI on Stargate UK – part of a wider project to expand AI supercomputing capacity.

“The United Kingdom is in a Goldilocks moment, where world-class universities, bold startups, leading researchers and cutting-edge supercomputing converge,” Huang said. “There has never been a better time to invest in the UK.”

The investment comes amid a wave of AI-related announcements tied to President Donald Trump’s visit to Britain this week. Microsoft and OpenAI also unveiled UK projects worth tens of billions of dollars, adding momentum to Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s drive to “turbocharge AI” through new data centres, chip infrastructure and designated “AI growth zones.”

While the UK is Europe’s largest startup hub, it has yet to produce an AI powerhouse to rival US-based OpenAI or France’s Mistral. Analysts say Nvidia’s backing could help British startups overcome barriers including limited access to supercomputing, rising energy costs and a shortage of domestic investment.

Starmer welcomed Nvidia’s announcement, describing it as “a major vote of confidence in the UK both today and long into the future.”