Inside AMD and Nebius' Compute Investments in the UK

London Tech Week, held from 8–10 June in London, placed AI infrastructure firmly in the spotlight.

Major investment commitments from AMD and Nebius highlighted the growing importance of compute capacity to the UK's technology ambitions.

The announcements came as Britain maintains its position as the world's third-largest technology economy behind the US and China, according to The Tech Nation Report 2026.

While discussions across the event spanned talent, regulation and AI adoption, compute infrastructure emerged as a core theme.

“The next wave of AI growth across the UK will centre on finance, biotech, transport and defence tech,” said Carolyn Dawson, CEO of Founders Forum Group.

“We’re living though a genuine inflexion point, and like the internet and cloud before them, the major AI models are creating a new infrastructure layer and it is upon us to ensure that the UK plays the right role in this movement.”

AMD expands its UK compute footprint

AMD used London Tech Week to announce a £2bn (US$2.67bn) investment in the UK over the next five years, focused on high-performance compute infrastructure, research and startup development.

The programme will include support for compute infrastructure in partnership with the University of Cambridge, research and development initiatives with Imperial College and direct investments into UK startups.

“The key reason is that it’s just an incredibly vibrant ecosystem here in the UK,” said Dr Lisa Su, President and CEO of AMD.

“AMD has been in the UK for over 50 years but over the last five years in particular, we’ve significantly ramped up our talent and engineering right here in the UK because of the incredible capabilities that come from both the research ecosystem as well as the entrepreneurship.”

Lisa linked the investment directly to growing demand for AI infrastructure and the compute resources required to support complex workloads.

“I love talking about AI because it has just so much capability and promise,” she said.

“And if you think about the last few years, there has been so much progress.

“I mean, we’ve really literally seen AI go from what was sort of a distant research initiative to something that everybody is using… our goal is to build the highest performing chips and we’re using AI extensively through our own research and development for exactly those reasons.”

She also highlighted the changing requirements facing operators and organisations deploying AI at scale.

“We’re at this point where compute is actually the foundation,” she added.

“I like to say compute equates to intelligence. And everyone wants more compute… what we’re learning is there is no one type of compute that will satisfy every AI application.

“In fact, you need a whole host of computes, whether you’re talking about the latest accelerators or general AI infrastructure in terms of networking.”

Nebius targets 65MW of AI capacity

Alongside AMD's announcement, Nebius discussed plans to commit approximately £1.7bn (US$2.26bn) to expand AI infrastructure across the UK.

The investment will include three new deployments of NVIDIA infrastructure and support plans to scale to 65MW of capacity by 2027.

The company is also expanding its commercial and AI research and development hub in London.

Together, the AMD and Nebius announcements represent £3.7bn (US$4.93bn) in planned investment directed towards the infrastructure layer supporting AI growth in the UK.

London Tech Week's infrastructure focus

The wider event provides further evidence of the UK's focus on compute capacity.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that British startups attracted half of all European technology investment this year and outlined a strategy designed to support domestic innovation and technology growth.

As part of that approach, the government has committed to purchasing specialist AI chips worth around £400m (US$536m).

“That to me is what an active industrial strategy looks like in technology,” he said.

“Building the foundations for the future. Backing the companies creating it. And making sure the next generation of success lies right here in Britain.”

Starmer also announced a new data centre development in Warrington, as part of an infrastructure-led regeneration.

“Warrington was at the forefront of Britain’s soap making industry and until a few years ago a Unilever factory was at its epicentre,” he said.

“Generations of local people worked there. But then it closed. And for many people in the town, that factory became a symbol of community left behind.

”But today I’m pleased to tell you that story is changing because that factory is being transformed into a new AI data centre, bringing in new investment, new skilled jobs and new opportunities for a generation growing up in Warrington.”

These data centre investments reinforce a message heard throughout the event: that the next phase of AI growth depends on the underlying infrastructure that powers applications.