A multibillion-pound drive to “mainline AI into the veins” of the British economy is riddled with “phantom investments” and shaky accounting, a Guardian investigation has found.
Since 2024, successive Conservative and Labour governments have proclaimed massive deals to build new datacentres, create thousands of jobs and construct a supercomputer.
The investments – led by two firms linked to AI giant Nvidia - have been touted as a cornerstone of the government’s promise to use tech to turbocharge the economy.
On Monday, former UK deputy prime minister Sir Nick Clegg and former Meta chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg were announced as new board members at one of the firms, NScale. Nscale also said it had raised a $2bn funding round, sending its valuation soaring to $14.6bn.
But a Guardian investigation has shown the money isn’t necessarily real, the datacentres may not be new, the jobs are unaccounted for – and the supercomputer site 12 miles north of London is still a scaffolding yard.
View image in fullscreen The Alandale scaffolding yard in Loughton, Essex. Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian
When asked about a series of claimed investments, the UK’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology declined to answer detailed questions but said it “rejected these assertions”.
A statement added: “Our AI sector has attracted more than £100bn in private investment since the government took office, with our AI sector growing 23 times faster than the wider economy last year. That is delivering the jobs and opportunities hardworking people deserve.”
But it also acknowledged limitations to its oversight.
In one case, it said that there was no contract in place for a £1.9bn ($2.5bn) investment despite a press release declaring that one had been signed. In another, it said that it was “not playing an active role in auditing these commitments”.
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