UK Government Announces Plans to Grow National AI Infrastructure

The UK Government is moving to establish a sovereign AI infrastructure, as outlined by Technology Secretary Liz Kendall at the Royal United Services Institute. Kendall announced an AI Hardware Plan to be unveiled at London Tech Week in June, building on existing initiatives like £100M in ARIA's scaling compute programme. The plan aims to support British AI startups and scaleups, with the Sovereign AI Unit already committing £500M—including participation in Ineffable Intelligence’s $1.1 billion seed round alongside Sequoia, Lightspeed, Nvidia, and EQT. Kendall noted that the global AI chips market is growing at 30% annually and is expected to hit $1 trillion by the early 2030s. If the UK secures just 5% of that market, it would bring $50 billion in revenue and tens of thousands of high-paying tech jobs.

While addressing national security concerns—70% of global AI compute is now controlled by just five companies—Kendall stressed that sovereignty does not mean isolationism. Instead, the UK will deepen partnerships with “middle power nations” like Germany, France, Canada, Japan, and South Korea to set international standards for AI deployment. Experts like Mike Maddison of NCC Group support the approach, noting that reducing overreliance on a few US-based hyperscalers while strengthening domestic capabilities is key. The government also reaffirmed its “deep, close and enduring relationship with the US,” signaling that the plan complements rather than competes with allies. The move positions the UK to leverage its existing tech sector and research institutions to carve out a meaningful slice of the AI hardware value chain.