Artificial Intelligence: Economic Situation

Department for Science, Innovation and Technology written question – answered at on 29 July 2025.

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Photo of Lord Sarfraz Lord Sarfraz Conservative

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the regional economic impact of generative artificial intelligence, particularly outside London and the South East.

Photo of Lord Vallance of Balham Lord Vallance of Balham Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Government recognises the transformative economic potential of generative AI in the UK. While London and the South-East currently generate around 86% of UK AI Revenue, other regions, such as Manchester, Cambridge, and Edinburgh, are emerging as key innovation hubs. This includes £750 million of investment recently announced for the building of a new AI supercomputer, hosted at the University of Edinburgh.

Additionally, as HMG’s AIRR+ compute network can be accessed remotely, researchers across the country are now able to make use of the UK’s world-class sovereign compute, in order to train new cutting-edge AI models.

The North and South-West have the highest levels of business AI adoption outside of the greater South-East, suggesting industry in UK is harnessing the benefits of AI technology into their business practices.

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