When Jensen Huang walked onstage at London Tech Week 2025, the response bordered on rockstar adulation. Students cheered, executives surged forward, and cameras clattered to capture the moment.
But beneath the acclaim was a clear message: this wasn’t a celebration—it was a signal. NVIDIA’s co-founder and CEO had come not to impress, but to invest—in Europe, in infrastructure, and in the intelligence age’s next great leap.
“This is Europe’s chapter one,” Huang declared, marking the continent’s decisive entry into an AI-powered future. Backed by high-profile partnerships, sovereign ambitions, and an acute understanding of what’s missing, his presence marked not only momentum—but mandate.
The Infrastructure Gap: “Goldilocks” No More
For Huang, the UK is in what he calls a “Goldilocks situation.” The research ecosystem is robust. Private capital is active. But one critical component has lagged behind: compute. “You have the researchers, you have the startups, you have the investment,” he told the audience. “But what’s missing is infrastructure. Infrastructure activates it all.”
It’s this gap NVIDIA seeks to address. At London Tech Week, Huang announced support for the UK’s goal to increase compute capacity by twentyfold. This is not hypothetical: NVIDIA’s Blackwell platform will power tens of thousands of GPUs in the UK through two major partnerships—10,000 units with Nscale and 4,000 more with Nebius. These will support everything from AI research to NHS innovation.
Moreover, the UK’s AI agenda is now buttressed by the UK Sovereign AI Industry Forum, launched by Prime Minister Keir Starmer with Huang at his side. With British industry leaders—BAE Systems, BT, National Grid and others—joining forces, the forum’s aim is to steer AI development on local terms, for local benefit.
“We want to help the UK become an AI maker, not an AI taker,” Huang said, echoing Starmer’s own phrasing. “Sovereignty in AI means the power to build, shape and deploy intelligence that reflects your society’s values.”
Training Builders, Not Just Users
Huang’s ambitions go far beyond hardware. He understands that a continent’s AI future must be built not just with chips, but with people who know how to use them.
To that end, NVIDIA will establish a new AI Technology Centre in Bristol, focused on nurturing the next generation of foundational model engineers, roboticists, materials scientists, and Earth systems AI experts. “It’s not just about putting machines in place,” Huang remarked. “It’s about building the human capacity to wield them wisely.”
NVIDIA is also collaborating with the Financial Conduct Authority to create a regulatory sandbox, allowing financial institutions to develop and test AI tools in a controlled environment. The intent is to build trust, ensure security, and unlock innovation in one of the UK’s most strategic sectors.
These efforts, Huang emphasised, will “help scale innovation safely.” It’s a delicate balance—one that relies on collaboration between government, industry, and technologists.
Across Europe, similar partnerships are emerging. In France, Bpifrance is backing an AI computing campus powered by the Grace Blackwell platform. In Germany, a €250 million supercomputing project—codenamed “Blue-Lion”—is underway. And in Sweden, NVIDIA is working with AstraZeneca and the Wallenberg Foundation on national AI development hubs.
The Mandate for Sovereignty: “Chapter One” Begins
Throughout his London engagements, Huang was relentless in asserting that Europe’s AI journey must be defined by sovereignty, not dependency.
“This isn’t just about deploying AI,” he said. “It’s about building your own. Training models on national datasets. Developing frameworks that reflect your own culture, laws and values.”
That sovereignty is already gaining form. The UK government has pledged £1 billion to support large-scale compute development, with the long-term goal of reaching the equivalent of 100,000 GPU capacity by 2030. NVIDIA’s contribution is not just capital—it’s orchestration, know-how, and a strategic belief in the region’s potential.
At London Tech Week, the atmosphere was electric. But beneath the applause was something deeper: collective will. Huang’s presence underscored that AI is not merely a race of speed, but of strategy and alignment. Europe may have arrived late to the AI party—but under Huang’s guidance, it is now poised to help lead it.
As Huang said in closing, “Governments are no longer debating whether AI matters. They’re asking how fast they can move. And we’re here to make sure they can.”
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