Donald Trump’s state visit was historic in more ways than one according to the UK Government, which claimed it marked the largest commercial package ever secured during a state visit with a £150bn US investment.
A closer look at the detail of the pledges that make up the “record-breaking” total reveals it has been reached by the Government presenting a compilation of new and previously announced deals.
Experts have spoken to The i Paper about what they think of the substance behind the deals unveiled as part of the state visit.
A number of tech giants have made multi-billion pound investment pledges, including Microsoft, which the Government said has made its largest ever financial commitment in the UK with a $30bn (£22bn) investment into AI infrastructure and ongoing operations. Half of the funds will go towards building the country’s largest supercomputer in partnership with British firm Nscale.
Nvidia, which has pledged to invest £2bn in the UK’s AI sector, hailed by Sir Keir Starmer as the “biggest-ever tech agreement” between the UK and the US, has also committed funds to Nscale.
Meanwhile Google has announced the opening of its data centre in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, as part of a new £5bn investment in the UK.
AI software firm Palantir is set to invest to £1.5bn and create up to 350 new jobs to help make the UK a defence innovation leader.
While the landmark investments have been widely welcomed, some have questioned whether the pledges go far enough.
Matthieu Rouif, CEO of AI photo-editing app Photoroom, said: “One anchor investor isn’t enough to lead globally. The UK also needs to democratise AI – making compute, datasets and pipelines available to startups.”
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Headline numbers alone do not guarantee impact, Mr Rouif said, adding “the danger is funds concentrated with a few giants or tied up in slow procurement”.
Experts have also raised concerns about what access smaller firms will have to new data centres, worrying they could be priced out by larger corporations.
Dave Grimm, partner at AlbionVC, said it is important the “wave of global capital doesn’t just land on UK soil, but actually strengthens our own capability”.
“Most of the money will understandably go towards the large data centres that Nvidia, Google, and others are building. But if the government, as convenor, can ensure that even a small share is set aside for UK-led testbeds and smaller data centres prioritising UK-developed IP and technologies, it would give emerging innovations a huge chance to be proven here first,” Mr Grimm said.
Life sciences boost
Prologis’s £3.9bn investment pledge across the UK’s life sciences and advanced manufacturing sectors has been celebrated by the Government as one of the flagship commitments. The funds will support the expansion of Cambridge Biomedical Campus in the South East and Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal in the Midlands.
Rafael E Carazo Salas, CEO of AI-first biotech CellVoyant, said the new wave of investment focused on supporting ground-breaking research could make the UK a more attractive place for companies to grow.
But he also warned there are challenges to consider. “Just this week companies like Merck, Eli Lilly and AstraZeneca have paused or withdrawn investment in the UK. The UK must also show the global pharma industry that beyond R&D, the UK has a strategy to get new innovations into the NHS and to the patients that need them most.”
X-Energy and Centrica plan to build up to 12 advanced modular reactors with a follow-on UK-wide programme, and a Hartlepool project that the firms said will generate enough power for up to 1.5 million homes and create up to 2,500 good jobs.
In addition to this, Last Energy and DP World have announced plans to establish micro modular nuclear power plants to unlock a clean power supply for the expansion of DP World’s London Gateway port and business park.
Claire Hu Weber, vice president of international markets, Fluke Corporation, said the real test of the investments will be whether they translate into lasting capability on the ground.
“Clean energy, biotech and AI don’t just need funding, they need reliability at scale and that comes from equipping a workforce with the right tools, data, and training. We see first-hand how fragile progress can be when infrastructure isn’t maintained or when expertise gaps slow adoption,” she said.
“The UK must pair investment with practical support for apprenticeships, standards, and hands-on technology. That’s where durable growth will come from, not just from billions pledged, but from ensuring the systems and people behind them can perform under real-world conditions.”
Blackstone and BlackRock commitments
Private equity heavyweight Blackstone has pledged to invest £100bn in the UK over the next decade, which includes their £10bn investment in a data centre in Blyth, the Government has announced.
Blackstone previously announced the commitment as part of a plan to put at least $500bn of new assets into Europe over the same timespan.
Meanwhile, BlackRock is expected to allocate over £7bn to the UK market next year on behalf of its clients and is investing £500m into enterprise data centres across the country.
What is missing?
There had been some anticipation that Trump’s second state visit could see a deal that would axe US tariffs on UK steel, but this was ruled out before the US President disembarked from Air Force One.
Talks on reducing the tariffs on UK steel exports from 25 per cent to 0 per cent were paused indefinitely ahead of Trump’s arrival, according to reports from various outlets.
And Trump left the UK without announcing any change, despite having told reporters he was “into helping” the country refine its trade deal with the US. Gareth Stace, the director of UK Steel, said the industry had been given a “tantalising glimpse” of a tariff-free quota but had been left “disappointed”.
Similarly, despite a meeting between the Chancellor Rachel Reeves, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and major cryptocurrency firms such as Coinbase and Ripple, there was no mention of closer collaboration between the UK and the US in the “Tech Prosperity Deal”.
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