KEY ANNOUNCEMENTS AT LONDON TECH WEEK

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer opened London Tech Week by announcing around £400 million to secure specialist AI chips for the UK, alongside a new government AI tool designed to help unemployed people find roles, build CVs and return to work.

This formed part of the government’s wider £1.1 billion AI Hardware Plan, which also included a planned £750 million national AI supercomputer, investment in British chip development and additional AI skills funding. Starmer also highlighted the rollout of AI tutors to approximately 450,000 children receiving free school meals and called on technology companies to introduce stronger controls preventing children from sending or receiving explicit images.

The government said announcements made during London Tech Week amounted to more than £6 billion of new investment and approximately 8,000 jobs.

The largest commitments included:

• AMD: up to £2 billion over five years for UK AI research, infrastructure and partnerships.
• Nebius: approximately £1.7 billion to expand AI infrastructure across four UK sites.
• Amazon: more than £1 billion and up to 4,000 jobs in Northamptonshire.
• Ark: an £807 million UK expansion.
• Eros Innovation: £265 million and more than 3,000 potential jobs.

While not every investment was announced directly from an Olympia stage, they collectively formed the major investment story surrounding London Tech Week 2026.

Prince William joined technology and business leaders to announce the UK’s first Homelessness Data Lab, led by his Homewards programme in partnership with LandAid and Salesforce.

The initiative brings together more than 25 organisations to explore how data and AI can identify signs of housing insecurity earlier. Indicators could include missed payments, utility disconnections or school absences, allowing councils, charities and businesses to intervene before someone becomes homeless. Participating organisations included Accenture, Bloomberg, VodafoneThree and NatWest Group.

Uber and British autonomous-driving company Wayve opened an interest list for members of the public wanting to experience London’s first robotaxi service.

The service is expected to use Ford Mustang Mach-E vehicles powered by Wayve’s autonomous-driving technology, initially with trained safety operators present. Customers will be able to request the vehicles through the Uber app, subject to regulatory approval from Transport for London, with commercial deployment expected in the months following the event. The companies also outlined ambitions to take the partnership into more than ten international markets.

BYD used London Tech Week to spotlight its new Flash Charging system, which can deliver charging speeds of up to 1,500kW through a single connector.

The technology can reportedly charge a compatible vehicle from 5% to 70% in five minutes, with the Denza Z9 GT capable of gaining approximately 223 miles of range in five minutes. BYD’s first live UK demonstration took place on 11 June at its Uxbridge headquarters, immediately after the main Olympia conference rather than on the show floor itself.

The company was also promoting plans to deploy approximately 300 Flash Charging points across the UK during 2026.

Justice Secretary David Lammy announced plans to test AI legal assistants capable of supporting case research, analysis and routine administrative work before a potential Crown Court rollout.

A separate tool will help judges identify trial-ready cases and group hearings more efficiently. The government also announced that every probation officer in England and Wales would receive access to Justice Transcribe, an AI transcription service expected to save the equivalent of 18,750 working days each year.