US to invest £150bn in UK as part of state visit package, promising thousands of jobs

During the state visit of the US president, a record £150 billion package of investment into the UK was announced, setting out the largest commercial deal of its kind and a plan to create more than 7,600 high-quality jobs across the country. The bulk of the funding is tied to a £90 billion investment by Blackstone over the next decade, positioning the private equity giant as the centerpiece of a broad slate of commitments from US and UK investors. The government framed the development as a marker of Britain’s economic strength and openness to leadership in global markets, noting that the plan aligns with its industrial strategy and growth objectives. A formal meeting between UK and US leaders at Chequers is scheduled for Thursday to discuss how far the collaboration can go in deepening economic ties and expanding future opportunities.

The package includes a wide range of investments from major technology, defense and infrastructure players. Microsoft has pledged £22 billion in the UK over the next four years to expand digital and cloud capacity, with Google committing £5 billion over two years to extend a data center expansion in Hertfordshire. These two tech pledges are substantial in scale but are described as a portion of their broader annual spend, and both are framed as boosting the UK’s digital backbone while supporting regional growth. Blackstone’s £90 billion is presented as a long-horizon investment program for data center development, real estate and related infrastructure, building on £10 billion previously announced for UK data centers. Prologis is set to inject £3.9 billion into life sciences and advanced manufacturing projects across the country. Palantir plans to invest up to £1.5 billion in UK defense innovation, with an aim to create as many as 350 new jobs. Amentum, the American engineering and logistics firm, intends to create more than 3,000 jobs and grow its UK workforce by more than half as it expands its footprint in government and civil sectors. Boeing said it would convert two 737 aircraft in Birmingham for the US Air Force, a project that would be the first USAF aircraft built in the UK in more than five decades, with around 150 high-skilled positions supported in the process. STAX, a US-based engineering firm, has committed up to £38 million to expand its UK operations, broadening capabilities in engineering and manufacturing services.

The overall plan plans for a geographically spread impact. About 1,000 of the new jobs are expected in Belfast, while roughly 6,000 positions would be distributed from Glasgow to Warrington, spanning the Midlands and the North East. Government officials say the investments are designed to deliver real opportunities for working people, including apprenticeships in clean energy, as well as careers in biotechnology and artificial intelligence. The mix of projects is intended to strengthen regional economies and diversify the country’s growth engines beyond traditional sectors.

High-level government commentary emphasizes that the package reflects growing confidence in the UK’s industrial strategy and its ability to attract long-term capital from the United States. Business and trade secretary Peter Kyle stressed that these record-breaking investments illustrate the Plan for Growth in action and underscore a commitment to delivering opportunities for working people. While the government acknowledges the scale of the commitments, officials say the aim is to accelerate the development of markets that can sustain jobs through the coming decade and beyond. The emphasis on apprenticeships and skilled roles is framed as a core element of the policy, with a view to strengthening competencies in clean energy, biotech and AI as part of a broader shift toward technology-enabled industry.

The timing of the announcement is tied to Thursday’s signing of the Tech Prosperity Deal, a broader framework intended to accelerate joint nuclear and energy capabilities between the two nations. Officials describe the Tech Prosperity Initiative as a platform to coordinate research, accelerate permitting and deployment, and push forward cross-border collaboration in advanced power generation and related fields. The deal is positioned as a continuation of a broader strategy to stabilize and expand critical infrastructure and technology sectors in both economies, even as governments seek to balance ambition with cost and risk in a volatile global market.

The package comes amid ongoing discussions about how best to harness US capital to address domestic economic needs. Proponents argue that such large-scale, cross-border investments can help diversify the industrial base, reduce dependence on a single sector, and create a more resilient jobs market. Critics, however, may point to the need for rigorous oversight, clear milestones and measurable outcomes to ensure that promised job creation and regional benefits translate into lasting economic gains. In this context, ministers emphasize that the investments are designed to be broad-based, regionally distributed and aligned with Britain’s growth agenda, including the expansion of data center capacity, defense innovation and clean-energy initiatives.

Even as the headline figure stands at £150 billion, observers note that the package comprises a mix of direct capital allocations, private equity commitments and sector-specific programs. The total jobs forecast of 7,600 is modest relative to the scale of the private capital being mobilized, and the government has stressed that the plan is intended to complement existing industry strategies and tax incentives aimed at retraining workers and expanding apprenticeships. The government also cautions that the real-world impact will depend on timely approvals, evolving market conditions and the ability to attract private investment on favorable terms. The gathering at Chequers later this week will be watched closely for signals about how quickly projects can move from announcement to construction and hiring, and how the partnerships will function across regional networks from Belfast in the north to the Midlands and north-east England.

The diplomatic and economic impulse behind the package is clear: the United States seeks to secure strategic ties with the UK in a time of global competition, while the UK aims to demonstrate that it remains an attractive, stable and collaborative base for large-scale investment. The government maintains that the plan reinforces a long-term strategy to grow jobs, expand skills, and diversify the economy through a mix of technology, infrastructure and defense-related initiatives. If the projects proceed on their stated timelines, the deal could provide a meaningful lift to regional employment and help sustain investment momentum into the mid-2020s and beyond.