Britain attracts new $1.3b AI investment

LONDON — US tech firm CoreWeave, a provider of cloud computing services for artificial intelligence, said Friday it will plough £1 billion ($1.3 billion) into Britain, the country's latest major AI investment.

CoreWeave said in a statement that it had already opened its European headquarters in London as part of its plan for Britain, where it will also establish two data centres next year and further expansion scheduled for 2025. "We are seeing unprecedented demand for AI infrastructure and London is an important AI hub that we are investing in," said Mike Intrator, CoreWeave co-founder and chief executive.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak welcomed the news, which he said was "further cementing the UK's position as an AI and tech superpower".

"We're leaving no stone unturned to make the UK the best place for pioneering companies like CoreWeave to grow their roots," he noted, adding that Britain had the third highest number of AI companies and private investment in the world.

CoreWeave, whose investors include semiconductor giant Nvidia, was founded in 2017 and is based in New Jersey. It is valued at about $19 billion according to media reports.

Friday's announcement came two days after British tech start-up Wayve revealed record fundraising of almost $1.1-billion, led by Japan's SoftBank, to develop AI systems for self-driving vehicles.

Wayve, a pioneer of vehicle-embedded AI, also secured cash from US tech titan Microsoft and Nvidia.

In a further boost to Britain, data infrastructure company Scale AI said it has selected London as the location for its first European HQ.