A Guardian investigation has revealed that the government’s multibillion-pound drive to boost artificial intelligence is riddled with “phantom investments” and shaky accounting. Since 2024, successive governments have announced massive deals to build datacentres and a supercomputer, but many of these promises appear to be based on rented facilities and unfinished sites.
CoreWeave, a US company linked to Nvidia, announced a £1bn investment in 2024, claiming it would bring “two new datacentres to our shores”. However, planning records show no new datacentres were built. Instead, CoreWeave rented space in existing facilities in London Docklands and Crawley, one built in 2002 and another in 2015.
Similarly, a £1.9bn investment by Nscale, another Nvidia-linked firm, was touted as having a signed contract, but the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology confirmed no contract was in place. The company’s supercomputer site in Essex remains a scaffolding yard, despite press releases claiming construction.
Experts have criticised the lack of oversight. Professor Cecilia Rikap of University College London said these are “phantom investments” that inflate job creation and economic impact to please governments desperate for growth. The government responded by saying the AI sector has attracted over £100bn in private investment since taking office, but declined to answer detailed questions about the specific claims.
The findings raise concerns that without proper auditing, such investments may primarily enrich US-based tech companies rather than deliver genuine economic benefits to the UK.
