UK Tech Sector Hits £1.2tn Valuation at London Tech Week

Britain is the third largest technology economy in the world – behind only the US and China –  with a £1.2tn valuation (US$1.6tn), according to The Tech Nation Report 2026, which was launched on the AI stage at London Tech Week. 

“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, who opened the AI stage at Olympia in London, UK, today.

“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.”

The Prime Minister’s three-step strategy for sovereign tech

The UK’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer highlighted how British startups have raised half of all European investment in tech this year.

“That hasn’t happened by accident,” he said. “Each one of those investments is an endorsement in a British talent, a British industry, and the approach that Britain is taking, an approach that has in small part been shaped by so many people in this room.”

“The question is whether we shape this change of allow it to shape us.

“If there’s one area where Britain is already ahead, it’s talent. This is the country that invented the worldwide web, that pioneered the jet engine and powered the industrial revolution. 

“Innovation is in this country’s DNA and it’s up to this government not just to recognised the scale of our talent but to match it with the scale of our ambition.”

According to the Prime Minister, scaling UK tech ambition means doing three things:

1. Make sure that Britain remain the home of those ideas and “give our inventors the tools they need to stay at the cutting edge”
2. Provide the right conditioning for firms to stay in Britain by “creating a thousand roles in the next three years”
3. Push the government to be a regulator and a partner so “innovators have the best chance to compete for public contracts”.

As part of this three-step approach to protecting British tech, Keir announced a new commitment to purchase specialist AI chips worth “around” £400m.

“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.”

Plus, he provided an update on his target to upskill 7.5m workers with AI training by 2030. 

Since last year’s Tech Week, 1.7m workers have already received that training.

Regenerating communities through compute

The Prime Minister focussed on Warrington as an example of the future of tech for communities in the UK.

“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.”

And there’s stories like that all over the countries, with the Prime Minister pointing to new data centres in Liverpool.

“They give us a glimpse of emerging revolution in technology, revolution with the potential to transform lives, to strengthen communities and create opportunities right across the country,” he said.

Drawing a line on corporate tech responsibility

The national strategy came with clear warnings for Big Tech regarding online safety.

“All tech companies should know, if they fall short on their responsibility to keep people safe we will act with the same decisiveness,” the Prime Minister said in reference to the UK Government forcing Elon Musk’s X to restrict its image-generation capabilities earlier this year. 

He also called on tech companies to introduce device controls that prevent children from sending and receiving sexually explicit images:

“I believe they can solve it. But if they choose not to…Then we will act. And we will change the law. Because when it comes to the safety of our children… Standing by is not an option.”

AMD doubles down with £2bn ecosystem boost

Validating the UK’s appeal, AMD announced a £2bn (US$2.67bn) investment in the UK over the next five years. 

This funding will support high-performance compute infrastructure in partnership with Cambridge University, research and development 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.

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

“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.”

“We’re at this point where compute is actually the foundation. 

“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.”

Lisa also highlighted how breakthrough innovation requires universities, startups, big corporations and governments to work together:

“It starts with the fundamental talent, ensuring that with strong universities and talent development programmes that we’re able to teach people about AI, the tool that helps each of us become a better researcher engineer and entrepreneur.

“And then [it’s about] really extending that into the rich large enterprising system here. 

“It is a very exciting time, but I think it’s important for us to realise that it’s a very early time and so ensuring we’re educating people along the way so they know how to use these tools to advanced businesses around the world.”

Nebius pledges £1.7bn for UK agentic AI capacity

Furthering the hardware boom, Nebius is committing approximately £1.7 bn (US$2.26bn)  to build out AI capacity in the UK, with more infrastructure, customers and cloud capabilities for agentic and enterprise AI. 

This investment funds three new deployments of NVIDIA infrastructure, scaling up to 65 MW of capacity by 2027.

It also expands the company’s commercial and AI R&D hub in London.

Down to earth: the Mayor of London’s £12m SME package

While national and multinational investments focused heavily on core compute infrastructure, regional initiatives turned their focus to grassroots adoption.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, unveiled a £12m (US$16m) AI support package for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). 

The programme, developed by London & Partners, will invest £4 million annually over three years to help London’s small businesses adopt AI through readiness assessments, expert mentoring and tailored guidance.