British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced 29.5 billion pounds ($37.2 billion) in private funding for new UK projects as more than 200 CEOs arrived in London for the Global Investment Summit 2023.
The UK government said the new investment would create 12,000 jobs "in our most innovative sectors, including technology, life sciences, renewables, housing and infrastructure", AFP reported.
"Today's investment is a huge vote of confidence in the future of the UK economy," Sunak said in a statement ahead of the opening of the event at Hampton Court Palace, not far from London.
"Attracting global investment is at the heart of my economic development plan," he added.
The investment includes £10bn over the next four years from Australia's IFM Investors fund "for large-scale infrastructure and energy transition projects".
Spanish energy company Iberdrola has announced £7bn of funding for offshore wind infrastructure, and US tech giant Microsoft plans to invest £2.5bn in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, including data centres.
German company BioNTech Laboratories will invest around £1 billion over 10 years, expanding its research and development activities with a new laboratory in Cambridge, East Anglia, as well as an artificial intelligence center of expertise in London.
On November 24th, Japanese car giant Nissan announced that it would invest up to £2bn in building two new electric car models in the UK, as well as a huge battery factory.
In last week's budget, Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt committed £4.5bn of aid to strategic industrial sectors, including automotive, aerospace, green energy and life sciences.
This is the second edition of the summit, which was first held in 2021.
Sunak and Business and Trade Minister Kemi Badenoch opened the event, which was attended by executives including Stephen Schwartzman of Blackstone, Amanda Blanc of Aviva, David Soloman of Goldman Sachs and Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan Chase. /BGNES
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