BlackRock Plans $700M UK Data Centre Investment During Trump Visit

BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, plans to invest approximately $700 million (£500 million) in the United Kingdom's data-centre infrastructure through a new joint venture with Digital Gravity Partners. This announcement is timed to coincide with U.S. President Donald Trump's state visit to the UK, during which BlackRock's CEO Larry Fink will join a business delegation that includes notable figures such as Sam Altman of OpenAI and Jensen Huang of Nvidia. The investment aims to acquire and modernize existing data centers to increase capacity, reflecting growing demand driven by advancements in artificial intelligence and cloud computing. BlackRock is also set to open a new office in Edinburgh, expected to create around 1,300 jobs, further strengthening its presence in the UK. Additional multi-billion-pound commitments from OpenAI and Nvidia are part of a broader surge in digital infrastructure investments linked to AI technologies. The UK government anticipates announcing aggregate investment and job creation figures during the visit, underscoring the robust economic partnership between the UK and the US amid current geopolitical and economic challenges.